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 COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
The Uncompahgre Valley 
 
 and the 
 
 Gunnison Tunnel 
 


 UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 AND THE 
 
 ^1- GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 A Description of Scenery, Natural Re- 
 sources, Products, Industries, Ex- 
 ploration, Adventure, &-c 
 
 By Barton W. Marsh 
 
 'I 
 
 ^^ •:• ^ 
 
 Published by 
 
 MARSH and TORRENCE 
 
 MONTROSE, COLO. 
 
 1905 
 
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 i^^H' 
 
 orfn 
 
 1- 
 
 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 DEC 23 1905 
 
 CooyrieOt Entry 
 
 . X-^^. 9. /9d 6^ 
 
 CUSS CL xXc. No. 
 
 / S ^ 6^ I 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 
 Entered accurdiiig to ^ict of 
 Congress, in the Year 19 3 
 
 By BARTON ^Y. 3IARSII 
 
 In the Office of the Libraririn of 
 Congress, at Washington. D. C. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL PUB, ASS'N 
 Publishers, Printers and Translators 
 College View, Lincoln, Nebraska 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THIS book has been prepared, with a sincere desire 
 to assist those who contemplate making a change of loca- 
 tion, and for the benefit of all who seek accurate informa- 
 tion about the Uncompahgre Valley, which the Gunnison 
 Tunnel project has brought so prominently before the 
 people of the United States. 
 
 . The men whose names appear in the back of the 
 book as advertisers are men of good character and re- 
 liable business standing, who are personally known to the 
 compilers, and to them we cheerfully refer all who on 
 perusing the following pages may desire to make further 
 investigation. 
 
 The cost of this work to the purchaser is but a few 
 cents. If it proves a means of saving him dollars in trav- 
 eling expenses, etc., we shall feel that its mission has not 
 been in vain. 
 
 The Compilers. 
 
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 LAKE ON GRAND MESA, ELEVATION 10,000 FEET. 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Beyond, a thousand miles to westward 
 
 Of the dark and sullen waters 
 
 Of the sluggish winding river 
 
 Called Missouri by our fathers, 
 
 Over plains, deserted, barren. 
 
 Save for coyotes tuneless snarling; 
 
 Save for dry and warning rattle, 
 
 As the snake glides to his cover ; 
 
 Save for sharp and cheerless barking 
 
 Of the prairie dog defiant ; 
 
 Save for owl that sits in silence 
 
 In the place of his seclusion ; 
 
 Save for here and there a rabbit 
 
 Speeding on to secret hiding; 
 
 Save for cactus and the yucca. 
 
 And for sagebrush, twisted, gnarling — 
 
 Lies a land of streams and fountains, 
 
 Where the sparkling waters tumble 
 
 From the lofty, snowy mountains 
 
 Down to valleys grand and fertile. 
 
 Marked by homesteads, broad and narrow, 
 
 Carpeted with green alfalfa, 
 
 With wild grasses and red clover, 
 
 (13) 
 
14 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 "With the yellow wheat and barley, 
 With white oats, and rye dark golden ; 
 Trimmed with stately trees of apple, 
 Trees of peach, and pear, and cherry, 
 Trees of every kind and species 
 In such latitude produced. 
 
 Growing there in rich pro- 
 fusion; 
 
 All the vegetables and 
 berries, 
 
 All the delicacies and 
 dainties 
 
 That an epicure would 
 cherish ; 
 
 Home of countless sheep 
 and cattle. 
 
 Home of horses strong and 
 noble, 
 
 Feeding peaceful on the 
 products 
 
 Grown upon the land so 
 fertile, 
 
 Moistened by the laughing 
 waters. 
 
 That come rolling down 
 the gorges. 
 
 High above the lowly val- 
 leys 
 
 Are recesses in the moun- 
 tains, 
 
 Found by winding trails 
 and roadways, 
 
 THREE YEAR OLD APPLE TREE 
 
 Leading up and ever higher, 
 Over crags and into canyons, 
 Over snows and into gulches, 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 15 
 
 Over leaping moun- 
 tain torrents 
 
 Raging, tearing, roar- 
 ing, foaming; 
 
 Leading into stately 
 forests, 
 
 Leading into caves 
 and caverns, 
 
 Leading into shafts 
 
 and tunnels; 
 Where the yellow gold 
 
 is buried, 
 Where the silver hides 
 
 its treasures, 
 Where the lead is in 
 
 abundance. 
 Where the copper lies 
 deep hidden. 
 Where the wealth of iron slumbers. 
 Where the stores of precious metals, 
 Wait the hand of honest labor. 
 Deep within the mountain's bowels, 
 Ever working, never ceasing, 
 Daring miners are engaged, 
 
 SCENES IN BLACK CANYON 
 
.£<r^^fl.t^wd::^a:lj 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 17 
 
 Pounding, driving, drilling, breaking, 
 From their rocky fastness tearing 
 Out the treasures there enstored. 
 There the mills are ever rumbling. 
 Day and night in vrork unceasing. 
 Rolling, grinding, stamping, crushing, 
 Shaking, washing 
 
 and refining 
 Yellow, glittering, 
 
 golden treasure. 
 White and sparkling 
 
 lead and silver. 
 Somber looking zinc 
 
 and copper. 
 Strong and lasting 
 
 steel and iron, 
 From the ore the 
 
 sturdy miner 
 Gathers fro m the 
 
 shaft and tunnel. 
 Violet growing by 
 
 the snowbank, 
 Columbine by fir tree 
 
 stately. 
 By the river course, 
 
 clematis, granite needles. 
 
 Pure white primrose in the valley, 
 Everywhere profuse of flowers. 
 Everywhere the golden sunshine. 
 Ever, ever, ever, flooding 
 Stately hills and lowly valleys, 
 Stretching plains and lofty mountains. 
 Quiet nooks and noble plateaus, 
 Pouring down in streams unceasing, 
 
 Uncompahcue Valley— 2 
 
18 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 In the autumn and the winter, 
 In the springtime and the summer; 
 Sparkling on the glittering snowcap, 
 Shining on the fleecy cirrus, 
 Shining on the glossy stratus, 
 Shining on the massive cumulus, 
 Shining on the pregnant nimbus, 
 Shining through the storm and tempest. 
 Shining on and ever shining, 
 Blushing in the mountain fastness, 
 Flirting with the dancing torrent. 
 Gleaming on the level prairie, 
 Golden gleaming, silvery streaming — 
 In the state of Colorado, 
 Famous, glorious Colorado. 
 


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 LAKE ON GRAND MESA. 
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 
 SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS 
 
 In the heart of the Rocky Mountains, three hundred 
 and fifty miles southwest of Denver, lies the Uncompahgre 
 Valley, which is destined to become, within a short time, 
 one of the most beautiful and fruitful garden spots on the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 The Uncompahgre is not a large valley. It has an aver- 
 age width of twelve miles and is about thirty-five miles 
 long, containing about one hundred and eighty-five thous- 
 and acres of irrigable land. The Uncompahgre River flows 
 through the entire length of the valley, and it is from this 
 stream that the present water supply for irrigation pur- 
 poses is drawn. 
 
 The situation of the Uncompahgre Valley is ideal. It 
 is completely surrounded and shut in by the everlasting 
 hills. To the south may be seen about seventy-five miles of 
 the San Miguel Mountain Range, which is a portion of the 
 
 [21] 
 
22 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 backbone of the Continent. This range is one of unsur- 
 passed grandeur, its many, lofty peaks being covered with 
 eternal snows. In many places the perpendicular walls of 
 its rugged sides have never been scaled by man, and its 
 ya"\vning chasms and abysmal canyons are among the won- 
 ders of the world for awe-inspiring grandeur and stupen- 
 dous magnitude. 
 
 To the north, visible from all parts of the valley, towers 
 the Grand Mesa, which rears its flat top ten thousand feet 
 heavenward. For miles and miles its mighty bulk stretches 
 away to the eastward, until it is lost to view in the maze 
 of unmeasured distance. It has been set apart by the 
 Government for a reserve, and as a result its summit and 
 sides are covered with a dense growth of evergreen timber, 
 and it is carpeted with a luxuriant covering of green grass. 
 There are many beautiful lakes upon its summit, which 
 are teeming with mountain trout, and it is the natural 
 home of the deer and wild animals of every description. 
 
 To our eastern friends who are sweltering in the heat of 
 their long and oppressive summer. Grand Mesa sends an 
 Tirgent invitation to seek its refreshing borders for rest 
 and pleasing recreation. 
 
 Bordering the upper end of the valley on the west is the 
 Horsefly Mountain Range. This range is covered to the 
 summit with a luxuriant growth of mountain grasses, and 
 presents an attractive appearance at all times. 
 
 Towering above the upper end of the valley on the east 
 is the Saw Tooth Range. Its summit is ragged and broken, 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 25 
 
 covered with jutting spires of granite, which gives it the 
 name of Saw Tooth. It produces a heavy growth of timber 
 from which the inhabitants of the valley draw material 
 for all purposes. North of the Saw Tooth Mountains and 
 running parallel with the valley for its entire length, is the 
 separating ridge that divides the Uncompahgre Valley 
 from the beautiful Gunnison River. 
 
 MINING. 
 
 Buried beneath the rocky fastnesses of these mighty 
 hills are incalculable treasures of gold, silver and other 
 precious metals. Day and night, winter and summer, 
 thousand of miners are at work, blocking out the treasures 
 of wealth contained in the mines to be crushed in the mills, 
 melted in the smelters and reduced in the refineries until 
 the pure bullion of gold and silver is given to the commerce 
 of the entire world. We are powerless to measure the ex- 
 tent of our ore deposits, and space will not admit of an 
 adequate description of the mining industry of southwest- 
 ern Colorado. 
 
 Just a few miles from the upper end of the valley is 
 located the famous Camp Bird mine, which has produced 
 millions in gold and silver, and at the present time has 
 millions more blocked out waiting to be removed to the 
 smelters and mills, there to be refined and poured into the 
 coffers of the world. 
 
 Underlying much of our land are vast coal deposits, the 
 extent of which has never been estimated, but sufficient 
 
26 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 investigation has been made to satisfy all that we have an 
 inexhaustible supply of coal within our borders. 
 
 The vast mining industries adjacent to the TJncompahgre 
 Valley afford a stimulus to our commerce that can be foun(? 
 
 in but few places in the world. The farmer finds a read^ 
 market for all the products of his toil. The artisan can at 
 all times find employment at a remuneration sufficiently 
 liberal to guarantee to himself and family a just appor- 
 tionment of the comforts of life. 
 
 Southwestern Colorado is a vast domain, throbbing with 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 29 
 
 life and activity, and it is nnceasingly ponring its un- 
 stinted treasures into the lap of the world. 
 - In our surrounding mining cities, Ouray, Telluride, 
 Silverton, Eico, Gunnison and Lake City, thousands of 
 teams and pack animals are constantly employed in bear- 
 ing the ore from the mines to the mills and smelters for 
 treatment, returning with supplies for the thousands of 
 miners who are engaged in bearing the precious metals to 
 the surface. It is not an uncommon sight to see a string 
 of fifteen or twenty eight-mule teams, each team repre- 
 senting a load of ten thousand pounds of ore, worth thous- 
 i..nds of dollars, slowly winding their way down the moun- 
 tian side toward the mill or smelter, there to deposit their 
 treasure, returning to the mine, and repeating the operation 
 day after day throughout the year. 
 
 The ^ast mining industry by which thg Uncompahgre 
 Valley is surrounded is one of the safeguards against the 
 stagnation of our industries. The farmer changes the 
 products of his fruitful lands for the gold and silver pro- 
 duced by the mines, and from this there is a constant 
 stream of wealth, which is produced at our very doors, 
 pouring directly into the hands of the producers. We 
 mine our own money in unstinted measure and grow our 
 sustenance in profligate abundance. 
 
 The way into the Uncompahgre Valley is over mountains 
 so rugged that in many places their peaks can scarcely be 
 scaled, past many sparkling, plunging mountain torrents, 
 which are fed by the eternal snows that crown the rugged 
 
30 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 heights; by stately forests of spruce and pine; through 
 towering canyons, winding round and about the mighty 
 mountains, and through valleys of unsurpassed fertility. 
 The name Uncompahgre is from a Ute Indian word 
 
 War Chief Ignachio Colorow's Son Gen. Adams. 
 
 Seer. Carl Schurtz Head Chief Ouray Chipeta, Ouray's Squaw 
 
 meaning "hot water spring," and it is taken from the 
 many hot water springs that help in forming the source of 
 the Uncompahgre River. 
 
 EAKT.IEST OCCUPATION. 
 
 Prior to 1881 the Ute Indians held undisputed posses- 
 sion of the Uncompahgre Valley. The head of all their 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 31 
 
 tribes was Chief Ouray, who many years swayed a scepter 
 of such equity that he was known as "the white man's 
 friend." ISTever in all his dealings with the whites did he 
 show himself other than their friend, tried and true. Once, 
 when in council with the whites upon some important mat- 
 ter, one of the under chiefs arose and began a tirade against 
 the white man; old Chief Ouray listened for a moment. 
 
 HOME OF CHIEF OUEAY. 
 
 and with the fire flashing from his eyes he arose and level- 
 ing a six shooter at the turbulent speaker, uttered one 
 word, "hikee," which is Ute for "get out." The under 
 chief well understood the meaning of the command and 
 scrambled for cover, when the meeting was continued to 
 its conclusion without further interruption. 
 
 Ouray died in 1879, and now the old settlers of the 
 valley speak of him, with a strange mist in their eyes, as 
 being a noble man with a great heart. 
 
32 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 In 1881 the Indians were removed to Utah, and the 
 Uncompahgre Valley thrown open for settlement. At this 
 time the great fertility of the soil was undreamed of. The 
 land is arid, and prior to this time no system of irrigation 
 had been developed for the purpose of supplying it witli 
 moisture. No one realized that Nature had locked in its 
 bosom an inexhaustible treasure of productive power that 
 was only awaiting the intelligent application of skill and 
 science to cause to spring into existence products that would 
 startle the world with their variety, richness and size. 
 
 
 ^^^vii^s^^L.3 ''^^^^^^^^^HliS^H^SPfRHHB^i* 
 
 IIOJME OF EAKLY SETTLER. 
 
Uncompahgue Val^et— 3 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PsESOUKCES AND PRODUCTS 
 
 On removal of the Indians the Uncompahgre Valley 
 was thrown open for settlement. As is usual in such cases, 
 a great number of people were hovering upon the borders 
 of the territory, waiting for the arrival of the day when 
 they would be allowed to drive their location stakes upon 
 a piece of land. 
 
 Within a short time a large portion of the acceptable 
 
 land of the valley was located, and the work of taking out 
 
 ditches for the purpose of irrigation was earnestly begun. 
 
 The indications at that time were that the Uncompahgre 
 
 River contained a sufficient water supply for all the land 
 
 to which it was accessable. Farms were laid out, and 
 
 homes were rapidly built, until from Delta to Montrose 
 
 the country began to take on the appearance of thrift and 
 
 industry. 
 
 [35] 
 
36 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 WATER PROBLEMS. 
 
 It was soon discovered that the soil possessed remarkable 
 productive power, and that under careful culture and the 
 proper application of water enormous crops of all products 
 indigenous to the latitude could be grown; but along with 
 this pleasing fact it soon became apparent that the water 
 supply afforded by the Uncompahgre River was insuffi- 
 cient to properly water the lands already occupied by the 
 enterprising homemakers. As years passed and new 
 ditches were taken out, the water supply for all became 
 less abundant, until many were compelled to abandon their 
 jDromising farms, which were by that act allowed to again 
 relapse into a wilderness. The stubborn fact was at last 
 developed that the water supply afforded by the Uncom- 
 pahgre River was not sufficient to properly irrigate more 
 than ten thousand acres of land, and upon this basis the 
 inhabitants of the valley were at last forced to settle, with 
 no hope at that time of any relief being offered. A mighty 
 torrent of water plunged through the Black Canyon of 
 the Gunnison River, only sixteen miles away; but it was 
 separated from the LTncompahgre Valley by a massive 
 mountain range, and none at that early date dared dream 
 of a diversion project that would turn its liquid wealth 
 upon the thirsty lands of the valley. 
 
 The soils of the Uncompahgre Valley vary greatly, ac- 
 cording to location. The Mesa lands are gray adobe, red 
 adobe and red sandy loam. The river bottom land is 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 37 
 
 "Home of countless sheep and cattle." 
 
 black sandy loam, formed ■ by deposits that have been 
 washed down from the mountains. These lands are pro- 
 nounced by soil experts to be the strongest in productive 
 power of any in the world. 
 
 PRODUCTS. 
 
 Owing to the limited water supply a larger acreage of 
 the occupied lands of the valley have been farmed in 
 alfalfa than in all other products combined. Alfalfa is 
 a great drouth resister, and will produce an average crop 
 of four tons per acre. It is without question the most per- 
 fect, all-purpose feed grown.. Cut when just coming into 
 
38 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 blossom, and properly cured, it is a hay par excellent. 
 Thousands of beef cattle and sheep are annually fattened 
 upon it without the aid of any other feed, and it is safe 
 to say that seventy-five per cent of the work stock employed 
 on the farms in the valley are given no other food. All 
 the lands of the valley are adapted to alfalfa raising. 
 
 "Home of horses strong and noble." 
 
 Grain products thrive in all portions of the valley. 
 Wheat produces from forty to seventy-five bushels per acre ; 
 instances of yields of seventy-five bushels per acre being 
 numerous, and it is not at all uncommon for an entire 
 field to average sixty bushels per acre. The yield of oats 
 will run from sixty to one hundred and ten bushels, and 
 in 1904 many fields produced -from eighty to ninety bush- 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 41 
 
 els per acre. Barley is a good crop, and produces a large 
 yield when properly cared for. 
 
 All kinds of vegetables are grown in abundance. At 
 the Western Slope Fair held at Montrose, in the fall of 
 1904, one man exhibited one hundred and seventeen vari; 
 ties of vegetables, all grown upon his own farm. This ssurm 
 man produced in 1904 on thirty-two hundred square feet 
 of land $80.00 worth of early peas. Thirty-two hundred 
 square feet of land is a little less than one-fourteenth of 
 an acre, and in that proportion one acre will produce an 
 income of a little more than $1,100.00. This is not an iso- 
 lated instance. Another man produced and sold from four 
 and one-half acres of ground, in 1904, $1,500.00 worth 
 of onions. This gentleman is O. II. Ilortou, who at the 
 time was Commissioner for Montrose county. 
 
 The average potato yield in the Uncompahgre Valley 
 is twenty-five thousand pounds per acre, and in many in- 
 stances in 1904 the yield was thirty-fi.ve thousand pounds 
 per acre. Tons of potatoes are grown which will average 
 twenty potatoes to the bushel, and potatoes weighing five 
 and six j:)ouuds are not uncommon. These are not pithy 
 and soggy, as large potatoes in many localities often are 
 bnt they are sound to the core, cook mealy and possess a 
 flavor never excelled and rarely equaled. There is out- 
 side market for potatoes, and the price is seldom below 
 sixty cents per hundred pounds. Potatoes are a standard 
 crop in the Uncompahgre Valley, and in ordinary seasons 
 net the farmer $100.00 per acre above all expenses. There 
 
42 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 WHEAT-FIELD FIFTY BUSHELS PER ACEE. 
 
 have been two instances of over-production of potatoes in 
 twenty-four years. 
 
 The population of the valley is made up of people com- 
 ing from all parts of the United States and Canada, as 
 well as a substantial class of citizens of foreign birth. 
 With but few exceptions all unite in declaring that the Un- 
 compahgi-e Valley is unexcelled in any part of the world 
 for productive soil and congenial, healthful climate. 
 
 The soil is full of vitality and strength and responds 
 to intensive cultivation. It will produce in proportion to 
 the care bestowed upon it. As yet the limit of productive 
 possibilities has not been reached in the Uncompahgre 
 Valley. The merry ripple of the crystal waters of the 
 Gunnison Kiver through the irrigating canals of the Valley 
 will sound the death knell for slack and indifferent farm- 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 43 
 
 ing. It will usher in conditions that will demand the most 
 thorough system that can be devised for the tilling of the 
 soil. It will bestow upon the inhabitants of that section 
 the key to soaring possibilities, the limit of which human 
 wisdom cannot forecast. The treasure of all wealth is 
 locked in the soil, and in the Uncompahgre Valley N'ature 
 has been prodigal in the bestowment of her bounties. 
 
 SMALL FARMING THE BEST. 
 
 The farmers have long since learned that large farms 
 in most cases are to be avoided, if one desires to accomplish 
 the best results. They have learned that a small place well 
 cared for is far more profitable than a large farm poorly 
 cultivated. The eastern farmer who has been accustomed 
 
 I ^, ^-b,/ ^a^t. ,<AM 
 
 
 IRRIGATING STRAWBERRY FIELD. 
 
THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 to handling a one hundred and sixty acre farm will find 
 upon locating in the Uncompahgre Valley, that forty acres 
 is equal in every respect to one hundred and sixty acres in 
 the east. He will find that, properly handled, he can em- 
 
 PTCKING STRAWBEKRIES. 
 
 ploy as many men on forty acres as he employed in the 
 east on one hundred and sixty acres, and at the same time 
 realize a larger net return than is possible on a large farm 
 in the east. There is legitimate reason for this, and that 
 reason is, that the land in the Uncompahgre Valley has 
 never yet been taxed to the limit of crop production. 
 
 Among farmers, as among no other class, there is a ten- 
 dency to take on more work than can be successfully ac- 
 complished. This is especially true in irrigated countries. 
 In the spring when the work is moving nicely, and not 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 45 
 
 crowding, and appearances indicate a good year, the aver- 
 age farmer thinks he will spread out and make a big thing, 
 and as a result of the spreading process he takes on more 
 work than he can successfully handle during the rushing 
 season, and so at last finds himself literally swamped with 
 weeds and work, with no recourse but to let matters drift, 
 and do the best he can. This brings discouragement and 
 dissatisfaction to many farmers, who might by cutting half 
 in two the acreage they are trying to farm find upon that 
 reduced basis abundant remuneration for their labor. 
 
 The time for intensive cultivation of small tracts of 
 land has fully come. Ten acres of Uncompahgre "Valley 
 
 GOOSEBEJUaES^ OXE HALF NATUllAL SIZE. 
 
46 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 land in fruit, berries, vegetables, etc., is enough to provide 
 a comfortable income for any family, while in many cases 
 a smaller acreage would be better, and would afford more 
 satisfactory results. It is true that if one decides to »3ii- 
 gage in ttock raising, a larger acreage may be profitablv 
 handled in hay and grain, but mcFt of the land will in a 
 short time become too vain able to devote to sucli purposes. 
 The mormously productive soil must be seen and studied 
 to be appreciated. It is impossible to put upon paper an 
 adequate description of the resources and products of the 
 valley. The land will do all that is claimed for it in this 
 book, and then the half is not told. 
 
 FKUIT CULTUEE. 
 
 Fruit culture is one of the valley's most important in- 
 dustries. The Uncompahgre Valley challenges the world 
 in apple production. The fruit is large, well formed, 
 smooth, free from disease, and possesses a flavor and keep- 
 ing qualities that cannot be excelled. The fruit is said to 
 be the most perfect and to possess the richest color that 
 science has yet been able to produce. During the fruiting 
 season the valley enjoys a cloudless sunshine, which, with 
 the system of irrigation employed, applying the water at 
 just the time required, imparts a color and flavor that has 
 become famous in all parts of the world. Fruit failures 
 are unknown in the Uncompahgre Valley. The peach is 
 the most delicate fruit tree groAvn in the valley, and there 
 has been only one peach failure in twenty-five years. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 49 
 
 Apple orchards, when in full bearing, and of proper 
 varieties, such as Jonathan, Winesap, Ben Davis and other 
 standard apples, will net the grower from $150.00 to 
 $500.00 per acre. Uncompahgre Valley apples are always 
 in demand, and buyers are on the ground as soon as ths 
 crop is insured against frost in the spring, and will advance 
 money on the prospective crop for the purpose of assisting 
 the grower to care for the same until it is gathered and 
 ready for shipment. Apple trees will usually begin bear- 
 ing the third year after planting, and will attain a well 
 developed growth in from seven to nine years. 
 
 Next to the apple in point of commercial importance 
 stands the peach. There are but few places in the United 
 States where peaches can be successfully and profitably 
 grown. The Uncompahgre Valley is one of these most 
 favored places. The Elberta is the leading variety, 
 which is no doubt due to its beautiful appearance, size, 
 flavor and excellent shipping qualities. In many sections 
 where peaches are grown it is found necessary to heel the 
 trees every winter, but such is not the case in the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley. They require no more attention than the 
 apple; and the trees being unusually vigorous attain a 
 greater age than in any other place known to the writer. 
 There are peach orchards in the valley that have been in 
 bearing for fifteen years, which are still strong and vig- 
 orous, and were in 1904 loaded with delicious fruit. One 
 ten-acre peach orchard in 1904 produced fifteen thousand 
 boxes of Elbertas, which netted the owner fifty cents per 
 
 Uncompahgre Vallbt— 4 
 
50 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 box in the orchard, clearing for him the neat little sum of 
 $7,500. Other and greater productions can be cited. Ap- 
 ple, peach, pear, cherry, apricot, plum, prune, quince, and 
 nectarine are the principal tree fruits grown in the vallej. 
 Berry culture is an important industry, strawberries 
 
 being grown for the trade in large quantities. It is rare 
 that an acre of strawberries wdll produce less than $700.00 
 worth of fruit, and many instances are kno^vn where an 
 acre has produced $1,200.00 worth of marketable berries. 
 At the time of this writing, the twenty-sixth of June, the 
 strawberry season is at its height, and a few days ago the 
 writer assisted in gathering berries, the smallest of which 
 measured four and one half inches in circumference, and 
 it required just twenty of them to make a yard of berries. 
 Six of the largest ones measured a foot, lying side by side. 
 Other berries, such as raspberries, blackberries, dewber- 
 ries, etc., are grown in abundance, but the strawberry is 
 the leader in this line of produce. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 51 
 
 We wish to emphasize the fact that the results herein 
 related are not accomplished by an indifferent and listless 
 method of cultivation. Skill combined with the most 
 thorough work has been required to bring forth these 
 marvelous productions. It may require but little skill or 
 science to sow a field to grain or alfalfa, and gather some 
 return therefrom for the labor expended, but the thorough 
 
 CORN AND PUMPKINS. 
 
 farmer figures to receive the maximum return for labor 
 expended, and he realizes that it will require all the skill 
 he possesses to draw from the soil the treasure it contains. 
 Most of the lands contain a small per cent of adobe, 
 which will, when covered with water and then subjected 
 to the heat of the sun, become as hard as burnt brick, by 
 which it will be readily seen that skill must be connected 
 with labor in order to accomplish complete and satisfactory 
 
52 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 results. The application of an improper tool could easily 
 ruin the labor of an entire season. The injudicious appli- 
 cation of water could in an hour destroy a good crop pros- 
 pect for the year. This has been done times without num- 
 ber by persons who have insisted upon applying eastern 
 methods to the soil. When intelligently handled the land 
 is easily worked, requires but little moisture, and will sur- 
 pass the most vivid imagination in productiveness. We 
 could not urge people to locate in the TJncompahgre Valley 
 whose minds are not open to enlightenment upon the indus- 
 trial problems the application of Gunnison water to the 
 lands is bound to develop. 
 
 STOCK, POULTEY AND BEES. 
 
 Stock raising is another very important industry of the 
 valley. There are many reasons why the Uncompahgre 
 Valley should be an ideal country for stock. First, the 
 winters are never severe enough to demand shelter for tho 
 stock; there are no cold sleets to cover the animals with 
 ice, thus causing them to shiver and contract with cold. 
 There is no weather severe enough to prevent the stock 
 from taking on fat when properly fed. The surrounding 
 mountain ranges afford superior grazing for thousands of 
 horses, sheep and cattle. The constant climbing, in con- 
 nection with the atmospheric conditions, produces lung ex- 
 pansion that develops the animal into the hardiest type of 
 animal growth known. Uncompahgre Valley steers have 
 been awarded both first and second prizes at the Chicago 
 and St. Louis World's Fairs. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 53 
 
 
 THOROUGHBRED WHITE LEGHORNS. 
 
 There are at the present time about sixty thousand head 
 of high grade sheep in the valley. These vast flocks pro- 
 duce annually forty thousand lambs, which top the eastern 
 market. The wool pays all the expenses incident to the 
 growing of the sheep, leaving the lambs as the net profit. 
 Sheep are self-supporting, the grazing lands furnishing 
 ample pasture for all times of the year. 
 
 Poultry raising is by no means a small industry in the 
 TJncompahgre Valley. Many people are engaged exclusive- 
 ly in this enterprise, and in all instances when given in- 
 telligent attention it yields a handsome dividend. The 
 climate and soils are especially adapted to poultry raising, 
 and the markets for poultry and eggs are all that could be 
 desired. 
 
54 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 HONEY. 
 
 Honey is a very important article of commerce ; there 
 being approximately 5700 colonies of bees in the valley. 
 The blossom of the alfalfa produces a fine quality of pure, 
 white honey, for which there is always a good demand. A 
 crop of honey and a crop of hay may be taken from the 
 
 same field, and the income from one will be about as much 
 as from the other. This has actually been done. It is a 
 matter of much pride in the valley that the honey produced 
 took the first prize at the great Fair at St. Louis in 1904. 
 The Uncompahgre Valley is a land of sunshine and flowers, 
 and these are essential to the production of good honey. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 65 
 
 THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY. 
 
 Sugar beets have become a staple product in Colorado. 
 This industry was introduced into the Uncompahgre Val- 
 ley in 1904, and the average yield for that year was twelve 
 
 II iti^^^it^U 
 
 BEET FIELD TWENTY TONS PER ACRE. 
 
 tons per acre. The industry was new to the people, much 
 of the land was in poor condition, it having the previous 
 year been run in grain or alfalfa, which left the ground 
 filled with stubble and roots, making cultivation and irri- 
 gation of the beets a laborious task. On land that was in 
 proper condition for such croppage the yield was from 
 eighteen to twenty-two tons per acre. In other places in 
 Colorado, the first year's yield produced by inexperienced 
 growers has not exceeded nine tons per acre. The same 
 
56 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 places are now producing twenty tons per acre as an aver- 
 age yield. The average amount of saccharine matter in 
 the beets grown in 1904 was sixteen per cent; on some 
 lands it ran as high as nineteen per cent. This has been 
 proved by scientific test to be the highest per cent of sac 
 charine matter found in any sugar beets. This industry 
 is bound to become one of the most important in the valley. 
 There is a demand for all the sugar beets that can be 
 gro"\\Ti, and sugar factories will soon be located in Delta, 
 Olathc and Montrose. One factory will be built at one 
 of the above named places to handle the crop of 1906. 
 
 Sugar beet culture is a pleasant and profitable occupa- 
 tion. It forces the farmer to make a war of extermination 
 against weeds, and brings the land into a high state of 
 cultivation, which causes the farm to present a beautiful 
 appearance, and best of all it puts into the grower's heart 
 the consciousness that he is engaged in a paying proposi- 
 tion. 
 
 There are many advantages presented in the growing 
 of sugar beets. First, the grower knows in the spring, be- 
 fore a seed is planted, what he will receive in cash for his 
 crop in the fall. Second, he knows within a few dollars 
 just what it will cost to produce his crop of beets, and if 
 he is familiar with his land and understands his business, 
 he knows within a few tons of what he can produce. There 
 is no business in which a farmer can engage that requires 
 so little risk as the growing of sugar beets. It is an indus- 
 try in which he is reasonably safe in figuring ahead, for 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 57 
 
 he is not compelled to take chances on fluctuating prices. 
 
 The preparation of the soil for this important crop is 
 a matter worthy of considerable thought and careful con- 
 sideration, and that which applies to the sugar beet crop 
 applies to all other crops in the matter of soil preparation. 
 Land in the Uncompahgre Valley should, whenever pos- 
 sible, be plowed in the fall, and then thoroughly irrigated 
 just before freezing time. The fall plowing loosens up the 
 soil, and the late irrigation fills it with moisture so that it 
 will freeze and thaw with every alternate chan.i;^ of 
 weather throughout the winter. This process melts and 
 pulverizes every clod and accomplishes the first and import- 
 ant work of preparing the seed bed, which must be care- 
 fully and thoroughly done if one desires perfect result:. 
 When the proper time for planting arrives, the beets should 
 be drilled in the dry soil, after which they should be fur 
 rowed and thoroughly watered. As soon as the ground is 
 sufficiently dry a light harrow should be run over it for the 
 purpose of leveling the ground to prevent the escape of 
 the moisture, and at the same time to break up any crust 
 that may have formed as a result of irrigation. From this 
 time until the crop is matured good judgment must act 
 the leading part in caring for the same. Sugar beets can 
 be grown, harvested and placed on the car at a cost of 
 $30.00 per acre. Most of the land will produce twenty 
 tons per acre, which nets the owner a profit of $70.00 per 
 acre. The best farms in the valley are now worth $100.00 
 per acre, and planted to sugar beets they will pay for them- 
 
58 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 selves in two years, No other crop can be grown from 
 whicli the farmer can realize such speedy and sure returns. 
 
 Elberta peaches will net the grower from $400 to 
 $1,000 per acre above all cost, but it requires from seven 
 to nine years to bring a peach orchard into full bearing. 
 Potatoes often net the grower $100 per acre, but the prices 
 are subject to great fluctuation, and for this reason potato 
 culture, while taken one year with another is a very pay- 
 ing crop, does not rest upon the permanent basis that beet 
 culture rests upon. 
 
 We have endeavored in this chapter to simply set forth 
 the principal products grown in the Uncompahgre Valley. 
 Space has not admitted of an extensive description of any 
 one product. Some upon reading this may be inclined to 
 say that the facts have been overdrawn, but we beg to state 
 that instead of overestimating the phenominal productive- 
 ness of the lands of the Uncompahgre Valley, we have in 
 many instances feared to tell all that has been done in the 
 matter of crop production. We wish it understood, how- 
 ever, that the facts we have gathered relative to this mat- 
 ter, have been taken from farms, orchards and gardens 
 which have been thoroughly and intelligently handled. No 
 one need expect to go into the Uncompahgre Valley and 
 find farms that will take care of themselves. Results are 
 only obtained from skill and intelligent labor. The more 
 skillful and painstaking the labor applied the greater will 
 be the results obtained. 
 
r°. M 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PRESENT WATER SUPPLY, IRRIGATION, 
 CLIMATE AND RECREATION 
 
 The water supply for the purpose of irrigation in the 
 TJncompahgre Valley is limited. The Uncompahgre River, 
 from which ninety-five per cent of the water for irrigation 
 is drawn, has its source from springs and the snow that 
 falls in winter upon the San Miguel Mountain Range. 
 Until the first of July there is usually water enough going 
 down the river to irrigate the entire valley. This water 
 comes from the melting snow, and as soon as it is gone, 
 the water supply diminishes to about enough to thoroughly 
 irrigate ten thousand acres of land. The valley is wholly 
 dependent upon irrigation for the application of moisture 
 upon the lands, as the rainfall is never sufficient to act any 
 part in the preservation of crops from drouth. 
 
 For two decades the farmers have struggled with the 
 vexing problem of water shortage. Conscious that their 
 
 lands were the most fertile in the world, they were forced 
 
 [61] 
 
 
62 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 to battle with the unequal conditions, caused by a water 
 supply so limited that it would not admit the cultivation 
 of a single acre of the fertile lands that were lying un- 
 touched from one end of the valley to the other. No in- 
 ducements could be offered to immigration because the 
 water supply" was exhausted, and sixty five per cent of 
 
 ORCHARD SCENE. 
 
 the farms under cultivation had no assurance of water after 
 the first of July. In spite of these unfavorable conditions, 
 the limited acreage that had any semblance of a water 
 right was carefully farmed, and owing to the exceeding 
 fertility of the soil, good incomes were made and homes 
 built up. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 63 
 
 PRIORITY OF WATER RIGHT. 
 
 The present water supply is regulated from the river 
 by means of commissioners appointed by the state. It is 
 
 HEAD GATES OF CANAL. 
 
 the duty of the commissioners to see that each ditch ap- 
 propriates only the water to which it is entitled by priority 
 right. Priority is a right granted by law, which is sacredly 
 guarded in all irrigated countries where there is an in- 
 sufficient water supply. Its purpose is to protect the ear- 
 lier settler against those who, coming in at a later period, 
 might attempt to appropriate a portion of the limited 
 water supply. It is a right that is many times outraged, 
 and yet it offers the only means of protection to water 
 rights where there is insufficient water to cover all oc- 
 
64 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 cupied lands. Where there is an abundance of water for 
 all, priority right is inoperative. 
 
 SYSTEM OF IKKIGATION. 
 
 The water is taken from the streams by means of ditches, 
 through strongly built headgates, that the flood waters in 
 
 WATER DIVIIolOJv IN IRKIGATION KO. 1. 
 
 the spring cannot wash away. Ditches are given suflScient 
 fall to the mile to keep them free from any accumulation 
 of sediment, drift and other matter that would naturally 
 gather, were the water flowing on an easier grade. At 
 proper places along the main ditches, lateral boxes are 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 fi5 
 
 WATER DIVISION IN lEEIGATION NO. 2. 
 
 placed, having headgates that can be raised and lowered 
 at will, for the purpose of regulating the flow of water. 
 Through these boxes the water is drawn, and thence car- 
 ried through smaller ditches to the places where it is 
 to be applied to the lands. The water is taken from the 
 laterals into what are called head ditches, which are ar- 
 ranged to run upon the highest portions of the land to 
 be irrigated. 
 
 The land to be irrigated should be laid out in furrows, 
 the space between varying according to the nature of the 
 ground to be irrigated. These furrows should be about 
 four inches deep, and thirty rods in length. A small stream 
 of water should be turned into each furrow and left to run 
 a sufficient length of time to thoroughly moisten the space 
 
 Uncompahgbe Vallet— 5 
 
66 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 between. It usually requires but a short time for the water 
 to run the length of these furrows, and then it should be 
 taken by another head ditch, and the process repeated on 
 the land below. By this system of irrigation the water 
 
 now WATER IS DISTRIBUTED IN IRRIGATED FIELDS. 
 
 does not flood the surface of the ground, which it is very 
 essential to prevent, as flooded ground will invariably bake, 
 thus causing great injury to the crop. 
 
 Most crops require from three to five applications of 
 water during the season, although excellent crops can be 
 grown, when thorough cultivation is persisted in, with two 
 waterings. 
 
 Irrigated sections possess powerful advantages over sec- 
 tions where rainfall is depended on for moisture. Under 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 67 
 
 irrigation, crops can be given moisture at just the right 
 time to accomplish the best results. Products grown under 
 irrigation possess qualities that can be obtained under 
 no other system of farming. 
 
 The cost for a season's irrigation varies from a few cents 
 per acre where water is drawn from the small, co-opera- 
 tive ditches, to $2.10 per acre when drawn from the large, 
 company canals. The service rendered by the large canals 
 is more efficient than that afforded by the smaller ditches, 
 
 DELIVERING WATEE INTO THE WASTE DITCH. 
 
68 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 IREIGATION OF OECHARD IN DECEMBER. 
 
 and requires no attention from the farmer. When the 
 Gunnison Tunnel is completed the cost of water will be 
 the same throughout the entire valley, no profits will be al- 
 lowed to accrue from the sale of water, and the price paid 
 will be fixed according to the actual cost of ditch main- 
 tenace. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 But little need be said about the climatic conditions of 
 the Uncompahgre Valley, although the climate is one of 
 the most important features for consideration in connection 
 with any section that is extending invitation to prospective 
 homemakers. The valley has a mean altitude of five thous- 
 and feet, and slopes to the northwest in gradual decline 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 69 
 
 of thirtj-five feet to the mile. There is no such thing as 
 nights being made uncomfortable by excessive heat. It 
 is a pleasure and a rest to sleep at night during the hottest 
 months of summer. During the night, summer and winter, 
 there is always a current of air moving from the southeast 
 to the northwest wliicli is the general course of the valley. 
 
 
 TUNNEL THROUGH SNOWSLIDE. HEAD WATERS 
 OF THE UNCOMPAHGEE KIVEB. 
 
 In the direction from which the night breeze comes, at a 
 distance of about forty miles, lies the San Miguel Moun- 
 tains, which are a portion of the Continental Divide. These 
 lofty peaks are covered with perpetual snow, and from this 
 invigorating and refreshing storehouse of frozen wealth the 
 night breeze of the Uncompahgre Valley is drawn. With 
 the dawn of morning the current of air changes and is 
 
70 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 drawn up the valley during the day. There is seldom a 
 time during the day when circulation of a refreshing cur- 
 rent of air cannot be felt. Sunstroke, cyclones and torna- 
 does are unknown afflictions in the valley. The mean tem- 
 
 CAMPING OUT. 
 
 perature for the six months from June to I^ovember is 58.4 
 degTees, from ISTovember to June it is 37.5 degrees. For 
 the three warmest months, June, July and August, the tem- 
 perature ranges at 68.3 degrees, for the three winter 
 months, December, January and February, the average 
 temperature is 27,5 degrees. There are but few days in 
 the year in which the ordinary work connected with the 
 farm life cannot be carried on. There is a remarkable ab- 
 sence of moisture in the atmosphere, and zero weather, of 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 71 
 
 which there is a little sometimes, is not noticed. For 
 healthful climate the valley ranks first in the United 
 States. Pulmonary and asthmatic troubles find instant 
 relief in the dry bracing atmosphere of southwestern Col- 
 orado. 
 
 KECKEATIONS. 
 
 Opportunities for social and recreative diversion are 
 abundant, and the scenery that constantly greets the eja 
 
 A GOOD CATCir. 
 
 is uplifting and inspiring. The lowly winding valley is 
 shut in by massive, towering mountains that stand as 
 silent sentinels, assuring protection and safety to all seek- 
 ing rest and homes beneath their shadows. Beneath the 
 
72 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 shades of their towering trees of spruce and pine may be 
 found a great variety of game, from mountain grouse to 
 bear and mountain lion. Venison is not an uncommon 
 dainty to the inhabitants of the Uncompahgre Valley who 
 desire to indulge in such bill of fare. The mountain brook- 
 lets and streams are teeming with trout, which is the great- 
 est table delicacy kno\vn to the epicurian. If one tires of 
 the warm summer sunshine of the valley, a few hours drive 
 with his team will place him in the silent recesses of the 
 mountains where he can indulge to his heart's content tho 
 sports and pleasures that are so dear to many. 
 
 During the months of August and September camping 
 parties are common, in which large numbers of the in- 
 habitants of the valley seek recreation in the mountains. 
 Family parties to the mountains afford delightful op- 
 portunity to spend a few weeks away from care and toil 
 at a cost not exceeding the daily expense of the home. 
 
HEAD OF BLACK CA.XYON. 
 
MOXTEOSE IN 1882. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 GUNNISON TUNNEL PRELIMINARIES 
 
 Great enterprises move slowly, and of times those benefits 
 which are of the most practical service to mankind, and for 
 which there is the most crying need, are the longest de- 
 ferred. It is needless, perhaps, to state that the inhabi- 
 tants of the Uncompahgre Valley have been educated in 
 the school of hardship and self-denial. The country is 
 comparatively new. The Continental Divide casts a separ- 
 ating line between the valley and the thickly populated 
 east. The great Utah desert stretches its parched plains 
 far to the west, and the Uncompahgre Valley seems thrown 
 in between as a sort of haven of rest for those who pass 
 within its borders. 
 
 The Uncompahgre Valley contains the largest body of 
 irrigable land in Colorado, lying west of Pueblo, and it 
 has only awaited the magic influence of living streams to 
 
 [75] 
 
76 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 transform it into one of the richest and most fruitful sec- 
 tions of the world. All kinds of fruits except those that 
 are tropical in nature are grown, not in limited quantities, 
 but in profuse abundance. Every vegetable that can be 
 grown outside of the tropics flourishes in the Uncompahgre 
 Valley. The Uncompahgre River generously surrendered 
 its waters to be spread upon the lands, but the supply was 
 soon exhausted, leaving great stretches of country un- 
 touched by the shovel and plow. 
 
 The ripple of the Gunnison River seemed to plead with 
 the people of the valley to tap its inexhaustable treasure 
 of liquid wealth, but the inhabitants of the land were slow 
 to catch the inspiration of the great idea that a hole six 
 miles long could be driven through a mountain chain, 
 through which the crystal stream might be led and caused 
 to distill its liquid treasure upon the parched acres that 
 the valley contained. 
 
 At last, a Frenchman, named Lauzon, who had learned 
 the value of water, became convinced that it was not only 
 possible to divert the Gunnison River, but that it was an 
 intensely practical plan besides. In season and out of 
 season, Lauzon talked Gunnison water, in the country 
 school houses, and in the towns on the street corners, and 
 in the highways and byways he pleaded with the people to 
 arise and build. Many were ready to intimate that his 
 mind was turned by constantly brooding upon the subject, 
 but later developments have abundantly vindicated the 
 man's idea and purpose, proving that he was an educator, 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 77 
 
 filling an appointed place. Posterity will honor the ser- 
 vices rendered the Uncompahgre Valley by Mr. Lauzon. 
 
 FIEST SUKVEYS. 
 
 The citizens were at last sufficiently aroused to contri- 
 bute a small sum for the purpose of making a preliminary 
 
 GOVERNMENT CAMP AT VALLEY PORTAL OF GUNNISON 
 TUNNEL. 
 
 survey, and on the twenty-seventh day of August, 1904, 
 Walter Fleming and Richard Whinerah, civil engineers, 
 were directed by the three counties of Ouray, Montrose 
 and Delta to run level lines from the Uncompahgre Valley 
 to the Gunnison River for the purpose of discovering, if 
 possible, how much of the valley lands could be covered by 
 water from the Gunnison. At this time the idea seemed 
 to be that a ditch could be taken out from the canyon, and 
 
78 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 that bj means of pipes and flumes, the water could' be 
 carried over the hills and permitted to drop into the val- 
 ley. 
 
 The first survey proved the impracticability of that en- 
 terprise, and while sitting around the camp fire during 
 this first surveying expedition, Fleming and Whinerah 
 fully decided that if the water from the Gunnison River 
 ever flowed into the Uncompahgre Valley it would have 
 to be by means of a hole bored through the mountains. 
 With this fact fastened upon them, they ran a level line 
 from a point eight miles east of Montrose in a north- 
 easterly direction direct to the Gunnison Canyon. They 
 found that the water could be taken out sufiiciently high 
 to practically cover all the lands of the valley. 
 
 The initiatory step was now taken, and the people were 
 beginning to awaken to the fact that what they had at 
 first scoffed at was a practical possibility, and that it was 
 worth their while to arise and do something, if they ever 
 hoped to see their valley take its rightful place among 
 the productive centers of the west. 
 
 LEGISLATIVE PRELIMINARIES. 
 
 The Hon. Meade Hammond of the State Legislature 
 labored untiringly for the Gunnison Tunnel. The first 
 session after his election he was unable to accomplish any- 
 thing for the great enterprise ; but he was re-elected and 
 became a power in the legislative halls upon all questions 
 cf state importance, and he succeeded in securing a state 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 79 
 
 appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars with which 
 to make preliminary surveys and begin work on the tun- 
 nel, hoping by these steps to interest private capital in the 
 enterprise. At this time the people did not dare to hope 
 that it would be made a Government enterprise, and they 
 continued to labor along the line of securing support 
 from private capital, which, had they been successful, 
 V''ould have forever saddled upon the people of the valley 
 a burden that would have been illy borae. However, in 
 the meantime, the Hon. John C. Bell, representative in 
 Congress for that District, labored with untiring zeal to 
 interest the Reclamation Service in the project. He at 
 last secured the appointment of a corps of engineers and 
 field men for the purpose, of making exhaustive investiga- 
 tion relative to the enterprise, precursory to the taking 
 on of the project by the Federal Government. 
 
 In the meantime. Prof. Fellows had been appointed 
 IT. S. District Engineer, and he at once manifested an 
 intense interest in the great enterprise, in fact this soon 
 became the absorbing ambition of his life. To the carry- 
 ing out of the project he devoted all his energies, and his 
 highest hope was to see the fertile lands of the valley 
 moistened by the crystal waters of the Gunnison. 
 
 It is difficult to place the credit for the first agitation 
 bearing on this project upon any one person. Mr. Lauzon 
 was, without doubt, the first man to publicly agitate it as 
 a feasible irrigation project, but it seems that prior to 
 
80 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 this time it had been investigated by the Denver & Rio 
 Grande railroad as a practical means of letting their road 
 into the Uncompahgre Valley without having to climb 
 the mountains. The San Juan mining district had also 
 manifested an interest in the project from a power stand- 
 point, it being regarded by some mining engineers as a 
 practical plan for securing electrical power to drive the 
 machinery of that great mining district. Be that as it 
 may, the purpose for which the tunnel was successfully 
 agitated rested upon an irrigation basis, and upon this 
 basis appeals were made to the state, and the assistance 
 of the Government was solicited, which is but another 
 proof of the great fact that back of all commerce stands 
 the farmer as the mighty spoke in the great wheel of in- 
 dustry, and his guarantee alone is sufficient to start the 
 wheels of Government in any enterprise, it matters not 
 how great. 
 
 The Gunnison Tunnel and kindred projects are de- 
 manded by the times. The whole Great East is filled to 
 overflowing with congested population. Countless acres 
 of fertile land now lie waiting the application of water 
 to transform vast barren wastes into gardens, Edenic in 
 their beauty and productiveness. The restrained thou- 
 sands in our Eastern states are eagerly seeking some out- 
 let for their overflow population ; there is no country so 
 inviting as the homeland, and there is no place in the 
 heme land that offers such inducements to homemakers 
 as the great, unsettled west. And what can a great and 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 81 
 
 Eiagnanimous Government do but say to its loyal subjects, 
 ''We will bring within your reach the means by which you 
 can transform a trackless empire into gardens of fruits 
 and flowers." 
 
 The machinery of Government has been put in motion, 
 and in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, 
 
 '-•^■^.J^*i3**''"'|BJ 
 
 DIGGING CANAL WITH STEAM SHOVEL. 
 
 Nevada, Idaho and Arizona the great work of reclaiming 
 the vast arid territory is under way. Colorado was the 
 first to receive benefit under this great movement, and 
 tJie Uncompahgre Valley is the chosen place that will 
 have opportunity to test the results of the first great irri- 
 gation project. 
 
 The preliminary steps necessary to any great under- 
 taking are many, and oftentimes complicated. They were 
 
 Uncompahoke Valley— 6 
 
62 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 found to be so in the Gunnison Tnnnel project. Ten years 
 passed from the time the matter was first agitated, until 
 the project was assured by the arrival of Government 
 assistance. These ten years were marked by many inter- 
 esting events, brought about by men who dared to sacri- 
 fice and do in the interest of the gigantic project. The 
 names of such men as Lauzon, Fleming, Whinerah, Ham- 
 mond, Bell, Pelton, Torrence, Fellows, Tobin and Dodge 
 can never be separated from the Gunnison Tunnel project. 
 Scores of others stood nobly by the enterprise when it was 
 weak and needed strengthening, but these men were the 
 ones who dared lead out and risk something in behalf of 
 the undertaking. 
 
 One of the most daring adventures ever undertaken in 
 behalf of an industrial enterprise was the exploration of 
 Black Canyon of the Gunnison, for the purpose of giving 
 to science and the world the particulars pertaining to the 
 project that the boring of the Gunnison Tunnel involved. 
 In the following chapter the story of the hazardous trip 
 through the canyon is told. 
 
WHEEE THE EIVEE DISAPPEARS IN BLACK CANYON. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THROUGH THE BLACK CANYON 
 
 Much has been written about the Royal Gorge of the 
 Arkansas, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, 
 but their towering walls shadow grandeur that must be 
 seen to be appreciated, and their roaring cataracts chant 
 music that must be heard to be understood. Science de- 
 clared that a railroad was possible through the Royal 
 Gorge, and now ribbons of steel are flecked by the foam 
 of its raging waters throughout its entire length. Years 
 ago daring men braved the gloomy fastness of the Grand 
 Canyon of the Colorado and gave the world the secrets 
 it^s mighty depths contained. In 1853 Captain Gunnison, 
 a daring pathfinder and explorer of note, discovered the 
 river that bears his name. He found its source in the 
 south central part of Colorado, whence it sought its outlet 
 in a northwesterly direction toward the sea. He followed 
 
 [85] 
 
86 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 its plunging waters down mountain side and through 
 smiling valleys, past forests of stately spruce and pine, 
 and broad meadows of waving grass, until he found it 
 swallowed up in a recess so dark and forbidding that it 
 was named the "Black Canyon," the yawning depths of 
 "which he did not care to explore, and so he veered to the 
 left and sought an outlet through a less difficult country, 
 to finally leave his bones with those of his companions to 
 bleach upon the plains of Utah, victims to the cruel hate 
 cf the savage redskins. 
 
 In 1873 Prof. Hey den with a surveying party ap- 
 proached and peered into the abysmal depths of the Black 
 Canyon, and filed in his notes that it was inaccessible and 
 passed on. 
 
 Thirty years passed by, and none were found daring 
 enough to attempt its exploration from the mere love of 
 adventure; but at last in 1901 science and necessity de- 
 manded that its depths be traced and their mysteries 
 given to the world. 
 
 To the west, running parallel with the canyon, lies the 
 inviting valley of the Uncompahgre. The white man had 
 found his way to this chosen place, and where once the 
 Indian had hunted the antelope and deer, there were now 
 under the process of development fertile farms and de- 
 lightful homes. The necessity of procuring a sufficient 
 water supply for the purpose of irrigating the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley demanded that the seal that bound the 
 mysteries of the Black Canyon be broken, and the nature 
 
TOP OF TOREENCE FALLS. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 89 
 
 of its unknown fastness be made known to all. The voice 
 of humanity was heard in earnest appeal for that most 
 important essential, water, with which to irrigate the 
 farms of the Uncompahgre Valley in order that families 
 might be supplied with bread, and homes rendered peace- 
 ful and happy that otherwise would not afford the most 
 meager necessities of life. 
 
 FIRST TKIP THROUGH THE BLACK CANYON. 
 
 Where were the men to hear the call and take their 
 lives in their hands by facing the perils of the Black Can- 
 yon in the interest of that project wdiich alone could 
 afford relief to the drouth-stricken inhabitants of the val- 
 ley? The only hope of securing a sufficient supply of 
 moisture was in some diversion project by which the 
 waters of the Gunnison River could be applied to the fer- 
 tile but waterless lands. 
 
 At last five men were found who accepted the call and 
 who decided to make the perilous attempt at exploring 
 the shrouded caverns of the Black Canyon in the interest 
 of that project which, if successfully accomplished, would 
 be the means of transforming their valley into one of the 
 most beautiful places on earth. J. E. Pelton, J. A. Cur- 
 tis, M. F. Hovey, E. B. Anderson and W. W. Torrenco 
 are the men, and to them the people of the Uncompahgre 
 Valley, and the thousands who will yet locate within its 
 borders, ow^e a lasting debt of gratitude for that which 
 they dared in their behalf. 
 
90 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 The funds with which to equip such an expedition were 
 meagre, but they at last fitted out two boats and suf- 
 ficient supplies for thirty days, and all arrangements be- 
 ing completed, they started upon their perilous journey, 
 entering the Canyon about one mile above Cimarron 
 Station. 
 
 It was arranged that men should be stationed along the 
 brow of the canyon in order to watch the movements of 
 the men below and report each day to their families, as 
 all were men of family except Mr. Torrence. The second 
 day in they lost one of the boats and half of their supplies 
 while attempting to pass a waterfall. That night, ex- 
 hausted by the constant and excessive battle with the 
 torrent, they found rest in a cave, the depth of which 
 they were unable to explore. 
 
 They found it necessary to be much of the time in the 
 water, and there was but little of the time, day or night, 
 that their clothing was dry, or when they were free from 
 that most unpleasant sensation that comes from having 
 on water-soaked clothing. 
 
 The canyon was deep and narrow, the water cold and 
 icy, coming, as it does, from melting snow; the walls were 
 perpendicular; and the reverberation caused by the un- 
 ceasing and mighty roar of the waters made hearing an 
 impossibility, save when in actual contact of mouth and 
 ear. 
 
 Arrangements had been made to communicate with the 
 top men each day, but five days passed before a single 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 91 
 
 evidence of their 
 existence was re- 
 vealed to the men 
 stationed along the 
 top. They w e r n 
 given np as lost, and 
 a messenger was 
 sent to the lower 
 end of the canj'on to 
 span the river with 
 wire-netting for the 
 purpose of catching 
 their bodies. 
 
 But the fifth day, 
 at a point where the 
 canyon is fifteen 
 hundred feet deep, 
 
 and the walls are perpendicular, the top men espied them, 
 and the glad news was borne in haste to their families and 
 to the people in general that they were still alive. 
 
 The grandeur of the scenes through which they passed 
 has in a measure been brought to general view by the 
 more than eighty views that Mr. Torrence secured while 
 en this trip. 
 
 The hardships they endured, while not so great as those 
 endured by Mr. Fellows and Mr. Torrence at a later 
 period, were sufficient to test sinews of iron and try nerves 
 of steel. 
 
92 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 At three different places they found natural bridges 
 across the river, formed by immense rock slides, which 
 had some time during the past ages fallen into the canyon, 
 thus causing the water to force its way under the great 
 mass of fallen stone. The needles shown in the illustra- 
 tion on page 17 are sharp spires of solid granite two thous- 
 and feet tall. 
 
 As the party advanced, the canyon grew deeper and 
 narrower, and the water more rapid and fierce, until the 
 men became convinced that with their equipment they 
 could proceed but little farther, so they began to watch 
 for a place to get out. The canyon was then twenty-three 
 hundred feet deep, the walls straight up and down and 
 very narrow. There were no shores or banks now on 
 which to travel, and the entire party had to take to the 
 water which was so deep and rapid that in many places it 
 seemed as much as life was worth to get into it. After 
 plunging through this narrow place, they came to where 
 boulders as large as houses had fallen into the canyon, and 
 the river disappeared altogether. Here they toiled hard 
 and long, dragging their boat over these great obstacles, 
 only to discover, when safely over, so great a difficulty 
 before them that they were forced to abandon the expedi- 
 tion, without having accomplished the object for which 
 they had risked their lives in an attempt to establish the 
 possibility of diverting the water of the Gunnison River 
 to the lands of the Uncompahgre Valley. 
 
 They were confronted by a canyon twenty-five hundred 
 
o 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 o 
 
 < 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 95 
 
 feet deep, and only twenty-eiglit feet wide, with perpen- 
 dicular walls, worn by the action of the water as smooth 
 as glass, and language cannot describe the terrific force 
 with which the restrained torrent found egress through 
 the narrow outlet. 
 
 Behind them pressed the raging t®rrent, 
 Before them boiled its seething tides, 
 
 Above them towered such walls of granite 
 That wild goats could not scale their sides. 
 
 Confronted by this mighty and desperate water sluice,- 
 the party realized that it would be folly to attempt to pro- 
 ceed farther, and means of escape were sought for. On 
 the right side of the canyon, looking down the stream, 
 was a narrow opening, which, while appearing almost 
 perpendicular, yet offered the only hope for getting out of 
 the canyon, as it would be impossible to get back the way 
 they had come. They named the narrow place the ''Falls 
 of Sorrow," bade farewell to their tried and worn boat, 
 and, having spent twenty-one days in traveling a distance 
 of fourteen miles, they began their ascent out of the 
 mighty depths of the Black Canyon at about eight o'clock 
 in the morning. 
 
 They toiled and climbed all day, night finding them far 
 from the summit, with no place to stop for a period of 
 rest. 'Not until half past nine that night did they at last 
 stand on the summit, exhausted and almost famished from 
 hunger. ' Their instrument revealed that in climbing the 
 twenty-five hundred feet they had departed only six bun- 
 
06 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 dred feet from the river, and they could stand upon the 
 canyon's crest and toss a pebble upon their deserted boat, 
 twenty-five hundred feet below. After reaching the top 
 they were obliged to walk fifteen miles before finding 
 food. The party, intact in number, but depleted in avoir- 
 dupois and equipment, at last reached Montrose, having 
 traveled a distance of one hundred miles in a circuitous 
 route, much of which had never been traversed by man. 
 
 ADVENTURE OF FELLOWS AND TOEKENCE IN THE 
 BLACK CANYON. 
 
 While the expedition did much to interest the public 
 in the diversion of the Gunnison River, it was incomplete 
 in the fact that it failed to establish the feasibility of the 
 undertaking from a scientific standpoint. It was left for 
 Prof. A. L. Fellows of the U. S. Reclamation Service and 
 Mr. W. "W*. Torrence of Montrose to complete that which 
 the former party had attempted. In August, when the 
 weather was warm and the water would be at a liigher 
 temperature than at any other time, they prepared for 
 their perilous undertaking. 
 
 The equipment consisted of a rubber raft, rubber bags 
 for kodak, etc., hunting knives and belts, and two silk life 
 lines, six hundred feet long. Thus equipped they started 
 into the canyon to accomplish by means of swimming that 
 which the former party had tried by means of boats. 
 
 Their experiences were similar to those of the former 
 party until they reached the Falls of Sorrow, at which 
 
LOOKING FOE A PLACE TO GET OUT. 
 
 UNCOMPAHGRE VAiLET^7 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 99 
 
 place their most trying 
 experiences began. As 
 before stated, the open- 
 ing at this place is only 
 twenty-eight feet wide, 
 through which the river 
 goes plunging and tear- 
 
 ing at a ter- 
 rific speed, 
 sending 
 forth a roar 
 like a thou- 
 sand pieces 
 of artillery. Through this narrow opening they could see 
 the tops of trees below, the height of which they had no 
 means of knowing, but it was plainly evident that the falls 
 extended a considerable distance. They exhausted every 
 resource in an attempt to get by the falls by climbing, but 
 without success. They spent several hours in trying to slip 
 through by hugging the walls, but the eddy of water would 
 beat them against the rocks so hard that they found their 
 strength waning, without making an J progress in their 
 effort to get through. 
 
100 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 THKOUGH THE NAEROWS. 
 
 After several hours spent in deliberation, they decided 
 that the only way was to plunge into the middle of the 
 current and trust to their good fortune to take them 
 through. It was a daring resolution, but the only way out 
 of the difficulty. They had but faint assurance that they 
 would get out alive, but casting their all upon that assur- 
 ance, feeble though it was, they plunged into the mael- 
 strom of water. 
 
 Torrence saw Prof. Fellows caught by a mighty billow 
 of water and hurled out of sight. As he disappeared from 
 sight, Mr. Torrence shouted "Good bye," for he never 
 expected to see him again. But Providence decreed other- 
 wise, for after having been hammered and driven and 
 plunged about for some minutes, they at last floated out 
 into less turbulent water and dragged themselves, bruised, 
 bleeding and exhausted, to a friendly boulder, upon which 
 they sought to recover their spent strength. 
 
 Having rested awhile, they again took up their journey. 
 Provisions were gone, and they were beginning to feel 
 the pangs of hunger. They could not get out, neither 
 could they go back ; they must go on, not knowing what 
 was before them, nor what unexpected trials would at any 
 time confront them. The question of how to satisfy the 
 demands of hunger was rapidly becoming an important 
 one, when quite unexpectedly they started a pair of 
 mountain sheep. 
 
A HABD PLACE TO SWIM. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 103 
 
 CATCHING A MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 
 
 No animal that ranges the Kocky Mountains is so dif- 
 ficult of approach as the mountain sheep. He seeks the 
 most secluded places that can be found, and it is but sel- 
 dom that he permits himself to be seen by the sharpest 
 
 eyed hunters. One of these went bounding away over the 
 rocks and cliifs, where it was impossible for man to even 
 get a footing, and the other ran in between two jutting 
 rocks. Torrence ran to the opening, just as the animal 
 made a plunge to get out, and it fairly leaped into his 
 open arms. Then began a mighty struggle for the mas- 
 tery. The wild sheep was between the two men and 
 apparent starvation, and with all the strength of his un 
 
104 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 tamed na- 
 ture the des- 
 perate ani- 
 mal sought 
 to escape. 
 After a long 
 str u g gl e, 
 T o r r enco 
 succeeded in 
 stabbing it 
 to death, and 
 they at once 
 
 prepared a 
 feast from a 
 portion of 
 the carcass. 
 Perhaps 
 never be- 
 fore in the 
 history of 
 man's know- 
 ledge of this 
 animal had 
 
 CAKKYINQ SUPPLIES OVEE RAPIDS. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 106 
 
 anyone succeeded in catcliing a full grown mountain sheep 
 alive in his arms. 
 
 UNDER THE CAVE-IN. 
 
 The next trying place was where the canyon had been 
 obstructed by a vast deposit of huge boulders, under which 
 the water has worn its way. The action of the torrent 
 had worn the hard blocks of granite until they had the 
 appearance of resting upon pillars. The two explorers 
 could find no way of getting over the obstruction, the 
 deposit was piled so high, and the boulders were so large 
 that they could find no footing by which to climb up. The 
 canyon was two thousand feet deep at this point, no place 
 could be found where they could climb out, and no human 
 being could get back through the whirling torrent behind 
 them. There was but one way out, and that was through 
 the hidden archway with its foaming waters. They had 
 no means of knowing the extent of the cave-in, nor how 
 narrow were the openings through which the waters found 
 an outlet ; they could peer in vain into its roaring depths, 
 but could behold nothing but darkness ; they could hear 
 nothing but the constant roar of the cataract. After 
 spending a long time in deliberation, they at last decided 
 to attempt to go with the boiling waters into the unkno^vn 
 depths of the foam-flecked cavern. Contact with constant 
 peril had made the pair indifferent to their personal 
 safety, and Fellows slid off the rock on which they were 
 sitting, into the whirlpool of water beneath. Torrence 
 
106 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 SHOOTING THE RAPIDS IN BLACK CANYON. 
 
 saw him turned over as soon as he struck the water, and 
 as he shot under the archway all that could be seen of him 
 was one of his feet whirling around in the mad torrent. 
 Again Torrence did not expect to ever meet him alive, and 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 107 
 
 for a long time sat there before he could decide to court 
 what seemed to be the certain fate of his companion. At 
 last, it being the only alternative that presented a single 
 hope for life, he, too, plunged in, but profiting by the 
 manner in which Fellows had gone under, he attempted 
 to strike the water in a position to swim and in this way 
 succeed in keeping on top of the water, and while the 
 terrible force of the torrent shot him under the arch at 
 a frightful pace he was afloat. He found the greatest 
 danger in the waters dashing him against the jutting 
 rocks, and thus rendering him unconscious. He finally got 
 through, and crawling upon a rock he looked down stream 
 and saw Prof. Fellows on another rock waiting for him 
 to come out, at the same time regaining his strength. 
 
 After this experience they soon reached Red Rock 
 Canyon, where they found a man waiting for them. 
 
 After a good rest they again plunged into the Canyon, 
 but their hardest experiences were over and they soon 
 emerged from the mouth of the famous Black Canyon, 
 having traversed its entire length of thirty miles in a 
 period of ten days, during which time they swam the 
 river seventy-two times, and passed through experiences, 
 out of which it seemed nothing short of miraculous 
 that they emerged alive. In all probability no one will 
 ever again attempt its perilous passage. The purpose 
 for which they made the hazardous journey is accom- 
 plished. The great Gunnison Tunnel is assured. Under 
 Government control, night and day is heard the chuck, 
 
108 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 AFTEE WE GOT OUT OF THE CANYON. 
 
 chuck of the air drill as it drives bars of steel through 
 the mountain of granite that separates the sparkling 
 waters of the Gunnison from the productive lands of 
 the Uncompahgre Valley. 
 
SECTION OF COMPLETED CANAL, 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 All preliminaries connected witli the great Gunnison 
 Tunnel project were carefully detailed and considered by 
 the Government before any decisive action was taken upon 
 the important undertaking. There were many important 
 details to be worked out and determined before Govern- 
 ment control could be assured. 
 
 1. The Government had to be assured, by means of 
 thorough surveys, that the tunnel was a practical under- 
 taking from an engineering standpoint, and that its cost 
 would not exceed the value of the lands to be reclaimed. 
 
 2. The unanimous endorsement of the infiabitants 
 of the valley had to be procured before the Government 
 would consider the project at all. 
 
 [Ill] 
 
112 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 3. A reasonable guarantee was demanded from all 
 land owners before practical operation would be under- 
 taken. 
 
 The arranging of these details required time and a 
 prodigious amount of labor before matters could be ar- 
 ranged to the absolute satisfaction of all concerned. 
 Representatives of the people in association with rep- 
 resentatives of the Reclamation Service were successful, 
 however, in establishing on a permanent basis the volum- 
 inous detail connected with so large an enterprise, and on 
 the fifth day of October, 1904, bids for the construction 
 of the great bore were opened. 
 
 At this writing (1905) the work is being vigorously 
 pushed at both ends, and also, by means of a shaft, through 
 which the work is being driven both ways. The tunnel 
 is thus being worked from four breasts, by which means 
 it is being pushed as rapidly as possible. 
 
 The valley portal of the tunnel is located eight miles 
 east of Montrose, near the little station of Cedar Creek, 
 a small shipping point on the Denver & Rio Grande rail- 
 road. The tunnel enters the valley at an elevation of 
 about 6000 feet. The river portal of the tunnel is 
 reached by a magnificent roadway, twelve miles long, 
 which was built by the Government at. a cost of sev- 
 eral thousand dollars. This road was built for the pur- 
 pose of conveying machinery and supplies for construc- 
 tion at the river end of the great bore. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 113 
 
 PREPARATORY ORGANIZATION FOR THE GUNNISON TUNNEL. 
 
 "The Gunnison Tunnel cannot be discussed as the work 
 of any one man, or one set of men. It is the result of a 
 united effort, supported and made effective by a benefi- 
 cent national act. 
 
 "For the administration of the completed project, the 
 officials of the Reclamation Service have directed the es- 
 tablishment of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users' 
 Association. This Association is entrusted with the ad- 
 justment of conflicting rights, and the return of the cost 
 to the Reclamation fund. At the proper time, also, the 
 Association will assume control of the entire irrigation 
 project. 
 
 "The task ahead is no small one for the officers, but 
 they are going forward with energy, and will achieve 
 complete success. The Association is directed at pres- 
 ent by the following officers: J. H. Halley, president; 
 John Tobin, vice-president ; Ira H. Monell, secretary ; W. 
 O. Stephens, treasurer; John Lamb, E. L. Ross, O. M. 
 Kem, Frank Donlavy, W. E. Obert, W. R. Welch and 
 Frank Ross, directors." 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF TUNNEL AND DITCH CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 "The constructions involved in the Uncompahgre Val- 
 ley project are the following: 
 
 "First : — The Gunnison Tunnel, for the diversion of the 
 Gunnison River through the separating ridge into the Un- 
 compahgre Valley. The tunnel will be 30,600 feet in 
 
 Uncompahgre Vallet^8 
 
114 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 length and 11x13 feet in cross section and will be lined 
 with concrete from end to end. It will be provided with 
 massive headgates at the upper end to regulate the flow 
 of water, and to prevent destruction during times of flood. 
 
 STEAM SHOVEL EXCAVATING CANAL. 
 
 The tunnel will cut the mountain at a depth of 2,100 feet, 
 and the 1,300 cubic feet of water turned in at its head- 
 gate will pass through it at a rate of ten and one-half feet 
 per second of time. Some idea of its magnitude may be 
 obtained from the fact that the project involves the re- 
 moval of 5,212,600 cubic feet of shale and granite from 
 the tunnel alone. Its cost with its accessory works is esti- 
 mated at $1,200,000. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 117 
 
 "Second: — South Canal to cany the waters from the 
 Gunnison tunnel to the Uncompahgre Kiver. This canal, 
 twelve miles in length, will be thirty feet Avide at the bot- 
 tom, seventy feet wide at the water surface and ten feet 
 deep. It will contain numerous drops or artificial falls 
 and other structures which will be built of solid masonry, 
 in the most substantial manner. It is estimated that these 
 drops will produce power to the amount of 6,000 horse. 
 It will be provided with a lateral system, for the distribu- 
 tion of water to about 20,000 acres of land. Its total 
 cost is estimated at $500,000. 
 
 "Third: — West Canal to irrigate the lands west of the 
 Uncompahgre River. This canal will irrigate about 
 65,000 acres of land. It will furnish water for approxi- 
 mately two hundred miles of distributing laterals. The 
 headgates at the Uncompahgre River, with numerous 
 drops, and the diverting gates for laterals, will be massive 
 and substantial structures. The total cost will probably 
 not be less than $500,000. 
 
 "Fourth : — East Canal to irrigate the lands east of the 
 Uncompahgre River and north of Montrose. This canal 
 will be about twenty-five miles long and will irrigate 
 about 65,000 acres of land. Practically all of its re- 
 quired laterals must be built, as it waters a region almost 
 wholly desert. Upwards of one hundred and fifty miles 
 of laterals will be required. The total cost will reach 
 $500,000 approximately. 
 
 "The construction of a great project involves many 
 
118 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 uncertainties. As the work progresses, new possibilities 
 and new difficulties continually develop. It is fitting that 
 such enterprises should be taken up by the nation, which 
 i? able to meet all contingencies, and which proceeds upon 
 
 1 ii« 'w 
 
 1- ff^ tv'^ -^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 »• 
 
 ! 
 
 W-^ 
 
 INTERIOR OF GUNNISON TUNNEL. 
 
 the theory that the actual home-builder must be the one 
 benefited, and that maximum utlity of available waters 
 must be the controlling factor. 
 
 "The completion of the Uncompahgre Valley project 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 119 
 
 will mark the dawn of a new era for the valley. Provided 
 by a wise law and guarded by trained and disinterested 
 officials, it will stand as a guarantee to every man of a 
 square deal. Under the terms of the Reclamation Act, 
 payments are distributed over ten years, without interest. 
 If past experiences are any guide, the portion of the crop 
 required to meet these payments will be a small percent- 
 age of the total yield. At the end of ten years the system 
 should be better than when it was built, and the annual 
 maintenance charges should be so low as to be compara- 
 tively trivial. 
 
 '^Sheltered on all sides by mountain ranges of Alpine 
 grandeur, favored by a climate of rare equableness, sup- 
 ported by a soil of surpassing fertility, the Uncompahgre 
 Valley rests under a rainbow of promise of rarest hue. 
 Ft needs no dreamer's eye to behold in the near future the 
 fields of waving grain, the herds of well-fed animals, the 
 bounteous orchards, all contributing to the happiness of 
 contented, prosperous citizens. The practice of irrigation 
 necessitates intelligence. The successful farmer in com- 
 munities where economic conditions call for intensified 
 farming in its highest degree, must bring to his aid all the 
 forces of modem science. Consequently, we shall find 
 here in this spot, especially favored by nature, a com- 
 munity prosperous in material goods, rich in education, 
 fertile in imagination — a veritable tower of strength 
 against the storms of prejudice, passion and injustice 
 which pervade the nation at intervals. Here we shall 
 
120 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 fiud the ideal man, strong in body, keen of intellect, deep- 
 souled, full-hearted and unafraid." 
 
 Note. — The paragraphs in this chapter, marked as quoted are 
 to be credited to Mr. L W. McConnell, engineer, in charge of the 
 construction of the Gunnison Tunnel. AUTHOR. 
 
GO 
 
 O 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
 W 
 
 H 
 O 
 
 03 
 GQ 
 Hi 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 W 
 
BIKDS-EYE-VIEW OF OLATHE^ EAST MESA IN THE DISTANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TOWNS AND INDUSTRIES OF UNCOM^ 
 PAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 The TJncompahgre Valley is situated in Montrose and 
 Delta counties, about two-thirds of the valley lying in 
 Montrose County. 
 
 Montrose is the county seat of Montrose County, and 
 Delta is the county seat of Delta County. The towns are 
 tv/enty-two miles apart, and Olathe lies about half way 
 between in Montrose County. Olathe possesses the great- 
 est acreage of good lands to be occupied with the advent 
 of Gunnison water. 
 
 CITY OF MONTKOSE. 
 
 Montrose is located at the upper end of the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley, in about the center of Montrose County 
 
 [123] 
 
124 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 north and south. Its present population is about three 
 thousand, with every prospect for a large and permanent 
 growth during the coming five years. It is at the present 
 time enjoying quite a marked degree of building activity. 
 There is good reason for this. It is the headquarters for 
 the Gunnison Tunnel project, and provides most of the 
 supplies for that enterprise. Being thus situated, it is not 
 surprising that it should receive the first impetus of pros- 
 perity that reaches the valley; but for permanent devel- 
 opment and favorable surroundings, Montrose possesses 
 no advantage over Olathe or Delta. 
 
 By September 15, 1905, Montrose will have completed 
 a water system which will afford the city an unfailing sup- 
 ply of pure, soft mountain water. This water supply will 
 be piped fifteen miles at a cost of $75,000, for which out- 
 lay bonds have recently been voted. The supply is de- 
 signed to be ample to answer the requirements of a city of 
 10,000 population. 
 
 Many fine business blocks have recently been con- 
 structed in Montrose and a number more are under 
 process of construction. The Government is erecting a 
 large building for the accommodation of the Reclamation 
 Service during the time of the construction of the tunnel. 
 
 The enterprises surrounding Montrose are similar to 
 those found in all prosperous farming and fruit growing 
 districts. A "creamery, canning factory, beet sugar fac- 
 tory and evaporator are either imder process of construc- 
 tion or in contemplation for Montrose in the near future. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 125 
 
 
 A TRAIN LOAD OF BEETS. 
 
 Montrose is the junction for the San Juan branch of the 
 Rio Grande Railway, which taps the great mining district? 
 of the San Juan. The mining industry is a source of con- 
 stant revenue to Montrose, and to the inhabitants of the 
 entire Uncompahgre Valley as well. 
 
126 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 SUEEOUNDING TEKRITOKY. 
 
 The territory surrounding Montrose is largely mesa in 
 character, only a small per cent of the irrigable lands 
 lying in the bottom. The lands lying on the east side of 
 the Uncompahgre River, and east and north of Montrose, 
 are gray adobe in nature. This land is noted for its inex- 
 haustible strength, the soil varying in depth from five to 
 one hundred feet. The gray adobe requires but little 
 water for irrigation purposes, the nature of the under- 
 lying strata being such as to conserve the moisture applied, 
 for an indefinite time. Large crops of grain and alfalfa 
 are produced with but two irrigations, and three irriga- 
 tions are sufficient for any crop grown on adobe soil. This 
 land is also adapted to beet culture, producing in 1904 
 seme of the largest and richest beets grown in the valley. 
 
 The question in the Uncompahgre Valley is not what 
 will the lands produce, but to what special crop are the 
 different soils best adapted.. The lands will grow any- 
 thing adapted to the climate, when properly planted, and 
 the question to be settled by every farmer is, what will 
 my farm produce to the best advantage. If a man desires 
 to be a specialist and devote his time to the development 
 of one product, he will find no difficulty in the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley in procuring lands especially adapted to his 
 desire. If he desires to operate on the lines of diversified 
 farming, he can find soil that would appear to have been 
 prepared by the Creator for the elaborate growth of every 
 product under the sun. 
 
FOE STACKING ALFALFA. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 129 
 
 The west side of tlie river is divided into mesas, named 
 according to their respective locations. Beginning at the 
 upper end of the valley, the first is Horsefly Mesa, which 
 contains about 5,000 acres of irrigable lands. These land-i 
 are chocolate colored clay and red gravelly loam. They 
 have a gravel subsoil, and therefore possess excellent 
 drainage. They are adapted to all products grown in the 
 valley, the gravel loam being especially adapted to fruit 
 culture. Practically all this land is under cultivation, al- 
 though a large portion of it is farmed under very imper- 
 fect water rights. 
 
 Spring Creek Mesa is the next body of land in order of 
 description, adjoining the Horsefly lands on the north- 
 west, and lying directly west of Montrose. Spring Creek 
 Mesa contains about 12,000 acres of good land, and is the 
 fruit Eden of all territory adjacent to Montrose. Its 
 lands are chiefly red sandy loam, and some of the finest 
 orchards in Colorado are located there. The Ashenfelter 
 Orchards, which are said to be the largest in the state, are 
 located on the brow of this mesa. These orchards con- 
 tain about three hundred and sixty acres of every variety 
 of fruit grown in the valley, including a large vineyard 
 and strawberry garden. The orchard is laid out in forty- 
 acre tracts, and is just coming into good bearing. In 
 J 904 it proved a source of large revenue to the owner. 
 JEx-Congressman John C. Bell o^vns and operates a large 
 orchard on this mesa, also Ex-Congressman 0. M. Kem. 
 
 Coal Creek Basin adjoins Spring Creek Mesa on the 
 
 Uncompahgre Vallet— 9 
 
130 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 west and contains land of superior excellence. The soil is 
 red sandy loam, of great depth, and will not bake upon 
 the application of water and the heat of the sun. Coal 
 Creek has never known what it means to have a sufficient 
 supply of water, but when Gunnison water is turned upon 
 its lands it will become one of the most fruitful and fa- 
 
 '^i^' NJii^! -iOa^. 
 
 CRATE OF STRAWBERRIES FROM UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY. 
 
 vored sections of the Uncompahgre Valley. This basin 
 contains approximately 2,000 acres of fertile land. 
 
 California Mesa contains the greatest body of land to 
 be occupied under the Gunnison Tunnel project, and the 
 sun never shone on richer or more productive soil. The 
 land is red sandy loam, adapted to the growing of all 
 products, and, like the fabulous Phenix of the desert, for- 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 131 
 
 ever renews its youth. This mesa is designed to become a 
 most desirable place; beautiful for situation, it only 
 wants the magic touch of the crystal flow to transform its 
 thousands of untouched acres into garden homes that can 
 13 ot be surpassed for ideal beauty and comfort. California 
 Mesa has within its borders 40,000 acres of productive 
 land. 
 
 Ash Mesa lies between California Mesa and the Uncom- 
 pahgre River, joining California Mesa on the east and 
 overlooking the beautiful town of Olathe, Its soil is 
 much the same as that found on the California Mesa, red 
 sandy loam, with a limited amount of red gravel loam, 
 which is the ideal fruit land. This mesa contains 6,000 
 acres of land, practically all of which will be cultivated 
 when sufficient water arrives. Ash Mesa and the upper 
 half of California Mesa are tributary to Olathe. 
 
 . OLATHE. 
 
 Olathe is located on the Denver & Rio Grande Raihvay;^. 
 half way between Montrose and Delta, and has a popula- 
 tion of two hundred and fifty. It is surrounded by an 
 extensive body of amazingly fertile land, and is the home 
 of Mr. Tlorton, who produced the fabulous crop of onions 
 which is mentioned elsewhere in this book. Mr. Picker, 
 who exhibited one hundred and seventeen varieties of 
 vegetables at the Western Slope Fair at Montrose in 
 1904, also lives at Olathe. These vegetables were all pro- 
 duced on his small garden adjacent to the town. 
 
132 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 Olathe is favored in possessing an intelligent and pro- 
 gressive body of business men, and a wide awake news- 
 pp.per. There is no reason why it should not become a 
 tcwn of considerable size and importance. Lying east of 
 Olathe is a large body of adobe land, which at the present 
 time is unoccupied, owing to the lack of sufficient water, 
 but this will undoubtedly become the greatest grain and 
 hay producing section of the valley. From the overflow 
 of prosperity that is headed for the Uncompahgre Valley, 
 Olathe will receive a just apportionment, owing to its fa- 
 vorable situation and surroundings. 
 
 DELTA. 
 
 Delta lies in the extreme northern end of the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley, at the confluence of the Uncompahgre and 
 Gunnison rivers; hence the name Delta. It has an esti- 
 mated population of two thousand, and is the outlet for 
 the great fruit districts of Paonia, Hotchkiss, and Cedar 
 Edge. These fruit lands are famous all over the world, 
 and all are located in Delta County. This section has a 
 boimtiful supply of water and has no peer in the matter 
 of fruit production. It stands as a monument of evidence 
 for what the Uncompahgre Valley will speedily become 
 when plenty of water is supplied to its lands. The Gun- 
 nison River flows by Delta on the north, and the valley 
 that skirts its borders on either side has an unfailing 
 water supply. 
 
 The elevation of Delta is 4,970 feet. The winters are 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 133 
 
 mild and free from blizzards or hard storms of any kind, 
 and with other places in the Uncompahgre Valley is fa- 
 vored with an unusual amount of winter sunshine. 
 
 Delta lies at the foot of Grand Mesa, which is the high- 
 est mesa in the world, and one of the most delightful sum- 
 mer resorts in the west. Its surface is dotted with about 
 
 m 
 
 ■■mBt/KOBKmiBalk&r- ... . 
 
 p^- 
 
 
 
 -:. - - ■— - . ■ :- ... 
 
 SACKS OF ONIONS ON O. H. HORTON'S RANCH, 
 OLATHE, COL., 1905 
 
 three hundred unfailing lakes, many of which teem with 
 mountain trout. Every species of game that abounds in 
 the wilds of the Rocky Mountains is found here, and all 
 things considered. Grand Mesa is the sportsman's para- 
 dise. 
 
 Delta has completed one of the finest water systems to 
 be found in the United States. It draws its water supply 
 
134 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 from springs located on Grand Mesa, at an elevation of 
 9,200 feet. This water comes from the pure snow that 
 falls in that altitude. It runs in an open stream for a 
 short distance, and then sinks into the ground and finds 
 an underground course for a distance of about one mile, 
 when it again rises to the surface, and from that point it 
 is piped to the city. It thus becomes filtered snow water, 
 and is bound to be the purest that can be obtained. Too 
 much cannot be said in just laudation of Delta's water 
 system. 
 
 SURROUNDING TERRITORY. 
 
 The lands surrounding Delta are similar to the lands 
 adjacent to the other towns of the valley. About 12,000 
 acres of the lower California Mesa is tributary to Delta, 
 the larger portion of which cannot be utilized until the 
 arrival of Gunnison water. A portion of Ash Mesa is also 
 tnbutary to Delta. 
 
 Garnet Mesa lies adjoining Delta on the east and con- 
 tains approximately 35,000 acres of unexcelled fruit 
 lands. It is red sandy loam, and within its borders are 
 found some of the finest orchards in the valley. In 1904 
 Mr. Switzer, an orchardist in this mesa, produced and sold 
 from one hundred and fifty Elberta peach trees 3,100 
 boxes of peaches, which netted him forty-two and one-half 
 cents per box, making his land produce a little more than 
 $1,300.00 per acre. Other orchardists, when conditions 
 are favorable, do equally as well. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 135 
 
 Peach Valley lies to the east and beyond Garnet Mesa, 
 and contains about 3,000 acres of adobe land, especially 
 adapted to grain and hay production. This valley is prac- 
 tically unf armed, omng to insufficient water supply. 
 
 SUGAR BEET HAEVEST (1905) WAITING FOR THE CARS 
 AT OLATHE^ COL. 
 
 South of Peach Valley lies a large section of country 
 known as "Poverty Flats," which contains about 10,000 
 acres of rich adobe land, a portion of which tract is tribu- 
 tary to Delta, the remainder belonging to Olathe. 
 
 Equally divided between the three towns are about 
 10,000 acres of river bottom lands. These lands are a 
 rich, black, sandy loam, with no limitation upon their pro- 
 ductive possibilities. Much of this land is yet to be cleared 
 
136 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 from a tangle of underbrush, and cottonwood, but when 
 once cleared and in perfect condition and cultivation it is 
 difficult to place a real valuation upon it. 
 
 The remaining territory to be reclaimed by the Grunni- 
 son tunnel project lies on the east side of the Uncom- 
 pahgre River, farther back than any of the lands named 
 above, and skirts the foothills from Montrose to Delta. 
 It is all excellent land, and will make ideal grain and hay 
 farms. 
 
 But little labor is required to prepare the mesa lands 
 for cultivation. They are usually covered with a short 
 growth of white sage brush, which is easily removed, after 
 which the land may be plowed without difficulty. 
 
 There is but little desirable Government land yet to be 
 located in the Uncompahgre Valley. The land is prac- 
 tically all taken up, but many homesteads may be bought 
 at a nominal figure. 
 
 PRICES OF LAND IN THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY. 
 
 Before stating prices at which lands may be procured 
 in the Uncompahgre Valley, it will be well to compare 
 prices of land in some of the adjacent valleys, which are 
 110 better situated than the Uncompahgre Valley, but 
 which have been blessed with an abundant water supply 
 for irrigation purposes. For instance, the Arkansas Val- 
 ley is located about half way between the Uncompahgre 
 Valley and Denver, on the Arkansas Eiver, at the mouth 
 of the Royal Gorge. This valley has from the beginning 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 137 
 
 enjoyed an abundant water supply, and their raw lands 
 are now selling for $300.00 per acre. Garden lands under 
 a fair state of cultivation are going at $600.00 per acre, 
 and orchards in good bearing are worth from $1,000 to 
 S2,000 per acre, and sales are not slow at that price. At 
 Paonia, another section possessing an unfailing water sup- 
 
 L ^.^.^1^- 
 
 ^tXh 
 
 LOADING FEUIT ON THE OAKS AT OLATHE. 
 
 ply, located sixty miles north of Montrose, in Delta 
 County, and not so favorably located as the Uncompahgre 
 Valley for market privileges, finds a market for its 
 orchards at $1,000 per acre, and such orchards are paying 
 from ten to twelve and a half per cent on the investment. 
 The unimproved lands are sought for at $250 per acre. 
 
 With the arrival of the unfailing water supply that the 
 Gunnison Tunnel will bring, the Uncompahgre Valley 
 
138 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 will do all that these other valleys have done already, and 
 will be as much greater and grander as its territory is 
 more extensive. 
 
 Unimproved lands in the Uncompahgre Valley can now 
 (1905) be bought at prices ranging from $10 to $25 per 
 acre. These lands are not inferior in quality or location, 
 but they are not farmed simply because there is yet no 
 water to supply them with moisture. Where there is now 
 nothing but sage brush, cactus and prairie dogs, will be 
 seen, upon the arrival of Gunnison water, farms, gardens 
 and orchards, blossoming as a rose. 
 
 Good farms with fair water right may now be procured 
 £it $50 per acre. The best farms possessing good water 
 rights are going at $100 per acre, while orchards in full 
 bearing are worth from $100 to $500 per acre. We ven- 
 ture to say that within three years after the application of 
 Gunnison water there will be no $100 lands to be pro- 
 cured. 
 
 Situated in a climate that is all that can be desired, sur- 
 rounded by scenery that will never grow old, kissed by 
 the pure, sweet sunshine that forever smiles upon it, ex- 
 hilerated by mountain breath exempt from germs of 
 disease, the Uncompahgre Valley is a place set apart, fa- 
 vored above most of its kind, and desigTied to become 
 famous wherever luxuries are enjoyed. The inhabitants 
 have a good thing; they have enough and to spare, and 
 at the present time are ready to share at a nominal price 
 with those who are not so favorably situated. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 139 
 
 The population of the Uncompahgre Valley, including 
 Montrose, Olathe and Delta, is approximately 10,000. 
 When supplied with water the valley will support in com- 
 fort 75,000 people. 
 
 Every inch of available water is at the present time 
 utilized, and there is no possible opportunity to increase 
 
 the cultivated acreage until the Gunnison Tunnel is com- 
 pleted. We would advise persons dependent upon the 
 annual products of their land for a livelihood to wait until 
 1907 before attempting to make a living upon the arid 
 lands of the valley. The Gunnison water is expected to 
 be running in the ditches in the spring of 1908 and not 
 until fhat time can there be any increase in the farmed 
 acreage. 
 
140 
 
 THE UNCOMPAHGRB VALLEY 
 
 To those who have means to invest in Uncompahgre 
 Valley lands, we say that no better time will be found 
 than the present to invest in a prospective home at an 
 insignificant sum. Thousands of acres can be purchased 
 at the present time for $10 per acre, and nothing can pre- 
 vent the same land from being worth $100, as soon as the 
 wat^.r from the Gunnison River flows upon it. It can 
 readily be seen that the Government would never have 
 undertaken such a gigantic enterprise, had it not, after a 
 most exhaustive investigation, become thoroughly con- 
 vinced concerning the merit of the land to be reclaimed. 
 
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CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES 
 
 Continuous progress has marked the development of 
 education in the Uncompahgre Valley. No means by 
 ^Yhich established methods may be improved are neg- 
 lected. 
 
 The country population of the valley is approximately 
 5,000. The valley supports nineteen country school 
 houses, and a number of them employ two teachers. All 
 these schools are graded, taking the students through the 
 eighth grade. As shown in the illustrations, the buildings 
 are large, substantial brick and frame structures, scien- 
 tifically and tastefully constructed. In most of these 
 school houses some religious denomination holds forth, 
 and Sunday schools are conducted. 
 
 The best educators that can be procured are employed 
 at salaries ranging from $60.00 to $70.00 per month. 
 
 [143] 
 
144 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 The best criterion by wbich. to judge a people, their 
 progress and stability, is their literary attainment. The 
 inhabitants of the Uncompahgre Valley are a literary 
 people. Many homes contain collections of books that 
 would do credit to older and more fully developed sec- 
 tions. 
 
 There are good reasons why education in Colorado 
 should reach a high standard of proficiency. The climatic 
 conditions are such that impart a degree of energy that 
 the more oppressive climate of the East and South does 
 not afford. While the people are energetic and progres- 
 sive, the agricultural lands and the mines richly respond 
 to the hand of labor; therefore an excessive amount of 
 toil is not demanded in order to produce the comforts of 
 life. 
 
 Ten hours constitute a day's labor in the Uncompahgre 
 Valley, and for this service the farmhand is paid from 
 $30,00 to $45.00 per month, according to his ability. 
 
 The mines, which are easy of access from all farming 
 districts of Colorado, pay their employes from $3.00 to 
 $4.00 per day of eight hours. This easy method of labor 
 affords all who toil ample time for mental recreation and 
 development. 
 
 The towns of the Uncompahgre Valley and the sur- 
 rounding mining sections, as well as most of the country 
 school houses, possess good libraries, to which they are 
 constantly adding. 
 
 Montrose has exceptional school facilities. The town 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 145 
 
 school has an enrolbnent of 800 pupik, and employs six- 
 teen teachers. The principal of the school receives 
 $1,200.00 a year for his services, and all grade teachers 
 are paid $70.00 per month. This school carries the pupil 
 through the twelfth grade. All text books are supplied 
 from the school fund, and attendance is compulsory be- 
 
 PASTIMES FOR BOYS IN THE WEST. 
 
 tween the ages of eight and fourteen years. A five-room 
 building is under process of construction, for the purpose 
 of accommodating the overflow until such time as per- 
 manent buildings can be erected. A manual training 
 school is being arranged for, the citizens of Montrose hav- 
 mg subscribed the funds necessary to begin the enterprise. 
 The county high school is located at Montrose, and 
 
146 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 was erected in 1904. It is a substantial brick structure, 
 and has an enrollment of 150 pupils. The high school 
 employs four teachers, paying the principal $1,200.00 a 
 year, his assistant receives $900.00 a year, and the two 
 other teachers are paid $765.00 a year. The building 
 occupies a block of nicely shaded ground in a desirable 
 part of the city, and has a well equipped laboratory. The 
 building is so constructed that it can be added to as neces- 
 sity demands. 
 
 Olathe has ample school facilities, having an enrollment 
 of ninety pupils, for which three teachers are employed. 
 Their two-story school building was erected in 1897. The 
 Olathe people pay their principal $90.00 a month, the 
 intermediate teacher $65.00 a month and the primary in- 
 structor $60.00 a month for her services. All schools 
 maintain a school year of nine months. 
 
 The school system of Delta and Delta county is as per- 
 fect as human skill can devise. The town school has an 
 enrollment of 700, and fifteen teachers are employed to 
 care for this flock, salaried at $60.00 a month each. 
 
 The county high school, located at Delta, has an en- 
 rollment of 105 students; for the training of these pupils 
 five teachers are employed. The principal receives 
 $100.00 a month, and the four other high school teachers 
 are paid $75.00 a month for their services. 
 
 In 1904 Delta had invested in its school buildings the 
 sum of $72,073.00. The same year the county paid its 
 irstructors the sum of $55,486.00. 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 147 
 
 The majority of 
 teachers in the 
 Uncompahgre Val- 
 ley hold first grade 
 certificates, a small 
 number have sec- 
 ond grade eertifi- 
 
 SOME COUNTKY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 cates, a n d but 
 three teachers 
 hold third grade. 
 
 It is perhaps 
 needless to say 
 that the standard 
 of education in the 
 Uncompahgre Val- 
 ley will be maintained. So long as the present stand- 
 ard of progress and enterprise retains its hold upon the 
 people the responsibility of training the children and 
 youth will be carefully safeguarded. 
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 It will be well here to speak of the labor agitation that 
 has recently swept throughout the state. We have some- 
 times felt that our Eastern neighbors were not in a posi- 
 tion to understand the situation in Colorado. 
 
 Colorado possesses the greatest number of diversified 
 industries of any section in the United States. These in- 
 dustries are not incipient and struggling in nature, but 
 
148 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 are vast organizations of power and influence, which are 
 pouring millions of wealth into the coffers of the world. 
 The farms, mines and stock ranges of Colorado all con- 
 tain wealth of fabulous proportion. The highest wages 
 are here paid to all classes of labor. The labor organiza- 
 tions have become great, wealthy institutions controlling 
 vast sums of money and large armies of people. The 
 labor trouble was not caused because of poor pay or starv- 
 ing families, but because there were two mighty combina- 
 tions of forces, wealth on the one hand, and labor on the 
 other, who because of their greatness and strength were 
 anxious to cross swords in a struggle for the mastery. 
 
 The recent agitations cannot be made to question the 
 prolific resources of the State, but on the other hand, 
 when properly understood, clearly indicate the vastness of 
 the State's prosperity. 
 
 Combined wealth may be arrogant and, if opportunity 
 offers, oppressive ; but the combined forces of labor are 
 no less so, if opportunity is afforded. 
 
 A great problem is being worked out throughout the 
 entire world, and Colorado is more favorably situated to 
 meet any crisis of a physical nature that may develop than 
 any other place, and offers inducements at the present 
 time that are not afforded by any other portions of the 
 United States. 
 
 In times of such grave moment as the present, when 
 crises seem to be developing all over the world, the out- 
 come of which but few are able to comprehend, it be- 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 
 
 149 
 
 hooves all men to look carefully to the basis upon which 
 they build their conclusions. We take pleasure in re- 
 ferring all to the plain Word of God, the Bible, as con- 
 taining the only plausible solution of the present crises 
 that are every^vhere arising. 
 
 MONTKOSE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 It has been our honest purpose to compile in this little 
 volume the information we have regarded of greatest im- 
 portance to those contemplating a change of location. 
 We have tried to not overdraw or exaggerate in any in- 
 stance. We do not hesitate to say that all are not doing 
 with their lands that which has been recorded of some in 
 this book. We as unhesitatingly say that what a few are 
 
150 THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY 
 
 doing all may do, when plenty of water comes, provided 
 tliey are willing to put forth the effort the few are ex- 
 pending. 
 
 In the preceeding pages we have presented the advan- 
 tages of this favored section. Nothing has been said of 
 the disadvantages that are met in the valley. 
 
 Perhaps the most unsatisfactory matter with which the 
 people have to deal is the narrow gauge railroad system. 
 The Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company operates a 
 narrow gauge railroad in this section, but the bridges 
 have all been broadened the past year, and broad gauge 
 ties are now being placed, and the word has gone out that 
 before the dawn of 1906 the Uncompahgre Valley will 
 have a broad gauge system. 
 
 The diseases to which orchards are in most fruit-grow- 
 ing sections subjected are absent from this section. The 
 codling moth is the worst pest with which the orchardist 
 has to contend, and it has been fully demonstrated that 
 by careful spraying this enemy can be overcome. 
 
 Vegetables are free from disease and pests. The po- 
 tato beetle is not found in the valley, and grasshoppers 
 and other bugs and worms give no trouble. 
 
 The grains are unmolested by smut and chinch bug. 
 The land is free from destructive winds and torrential 
 rains. There are no poisonous reptiles and insects to fear 
 in the Uncompahgre Valley. 
 
 Crop failures are not known on lands possessing good 
 water rights. If the husbandman sows, he is as sure of 
 
AND THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 151 
 
 reaping a harvest as that the Lord will send the sunshine. 
 
 Market stagnation is unknown. The farmer can al- 
 ways turn his produce into cash at some figure. There 
 has been an over-production of potatoes twice in twenty- 
 two years. The grain products do not begin to supply the 
 demand, and marketable fruit can always be sold. 
 
 The sugar beet industry offers special inducement to 
 all comers. There is absolutely no limitation upon the 
 demand for this product. Colorado, and especially the 
 Uncompahgre Valley, holds the record for producing the 
 sweetest sugar beets grown in the United States. 
 
 The valley has no drawbacks. The Gunnison Tunnel 
 project will overcome the only serious drawback which 
 ever confronted it. 
 
 In many respects it is a more desirable place in which 
 to make a home than California. A greater variety of 
 products can be grown than in California. The sun is 
 never too hot for comfort, and the winters are not severe 
 enough to be disagreeable. The autumn climate is the 
 finest in the world, and the springs are short and not at 
 all unpleasant. 
 
 The Uncompahgi'e Valley is a satisfying portion, and 
 offers a cheerful welcome to all. 
 
ODE TO THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY. 
 
 Where the sun climbs o'er the mountains in the bright and 
 
 sunny west 
 In the Ckjiorado southland where kind Nature did her best, 
 Lies a little winding valley nestling in the hills secure, 
 And the lofty snowcapped mountains stand on guard to keep 
 
 it pure. 
 
 Everywhere within its borders God's sweet flowers in fullness 
 
 bloom, 
 And the richness of their fragrance seems to drive away the 
 
 gloom 
 Of the faint and heavy hearted, who have passed our open 
 
 doors. 
 To find rest within our portals, and to feast upon our stores. 
 
 Early in the balmy springtime, when deft Nature lifts her hand. 
 And delivers from her treasures life unto the waiting land, 
 Comes the bloom on peach and apple, spreading sweetness 
 
 everywhere, 
 'Till our cup of joy and gladness gathers pleasures from the air. 
 
 And the red and purple blossoms of the clover add their part 
 To the circinating good-will flowing round from heart to heart. 
 Winter short and springtime pleasant have prepared a fltting 
 
 mould 
 For the fruit that gentle Autumn paints with blushing red and 
 
 gold. 
 
 And it seems that Summer lingered just to add its store of 
 
 wealth 
 To the overflowing measure Autumn gathered by its stealth. 
 Round us range the stately mountains with their treasures rich 
 
 and rare; 
 On their breasts the sheep and cattle feed in peace and plenty 
 
 there. 
 
 And the good Lord up above us opens wide his hand of grace. 
 And the overflow of heaven seems to reach this favored place; 
 And the Uncompahgre Valley — this the name the poet sings, — 
 Is a synonym of richness and abundance of all things. 
 
 'Tis the home of happy people, and we share the peaceful lot 
 That is common to our valley, to this favored, blessed spot. 
 Rich in Nature's gifts and offerings that have fallen at our feet, 
 Hail! to smiling Uncompahgre, and its fodder, fruit and wheat. 
 
 May our homes be ever models, ever places to adore! 
 
 May our welcomes at their portals bid the stranger share our 
 
 store. 
 Here, contented with our children, we will not be lured to roam, 
 'Till our gracious heavenly Father calls us to a better home. 
 
Irrigated Farms in the Little Empire 
 of the Western Slope. 
 
 Profitable farm lands are scattered all along 
 the line of 
 
 Denver &- Rio Grande Railroad 
 
 "Scenic Line of the World." 
 
 In the San Luis Valley and the Valleys of 
 the orrand Gunnison, Uncompahgre, North 
 Fork and Roarine Fork Rivers in Colorado 
 and Farmington, New Mexico, farming, stock 
 raising and fruit growing are carried on in a 
 way that is a revelation to the farmer in the 
 east. For those who desire to make new 
 homes, there is no other region that 
 offers more and better advantages than western 
 Colorado, a land of blue skies and sunshine, 
 with a temperate and even climate, where the 
 erstwhile desert needs but to be tilled and 
 and watered in order to verily "Blossom as a 
 Rose." Several publications, giving valuable 
 information in regard to the agricultural, 
 horticultural and live stock 
 interests of this great western 
 section have been prepared by 
 the Denver & Rio Grande 
 Railroad, which can be ob- 
 tained by writing to 
 
 S. K. HOOPEK, G, p. £rT. A., Denver, Colorado. 
 
THE WESTERN LAND & INVEST- 
 MENT COMPANY 
 
 Tv^^ir^ Offic^e^, Ol^tlne;, OcDlor-^do. 
 
 A eeneral land brokerao-e business. The best 
 land on the western slope of Colorado listed with 
 us. Situated in the center of the fertile Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley. 
 
 Homeseekers Located without Charge. 
 
 Correspondence solicited with eastern parties 
 wishing homes on the lands to be irrigated by the 
 great Gunnison Tunnel. 
 
 Investments in first mortgage loans made for 
 non-residents. 
 
 Special Rates Secured for Parties of Homeseeliers. 
 
 For full information call on or address 
 
 ^he Western Cand & t!Jnvesttnent (Bompctny, 
 
 {I ncorporated) 
 OLATHE, , , , . COLO. 
 
THE UNION PACIFIC 
 
 Was First 
 
 To Cross the Plains to Denver 
 
 And is Still 
 
 First in Point of Service and Equipment 
 
 Low Rates to Colorado During 
 the Summer. 
 
 Four Trains Daily between Missouri 
 River and Denver. 
 
 J, C. Ferguson, General Agent, 
 
 Denver, , , ^ , Colorado. 
 
 OLATHETHE HUB 
 
 OF THE GUNNISON TUNNEL PROJECT 
 
 Has laj'ge tracts of rich undeveloped land surrounding the town, 
 which must be sold in tracts, not exceeding l(iO acres, before the 
 water from the Gunnison Tunnel will be allotted. 
 
 
 For full information address the 
 
 OLATHE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 
 
 Olathe, Colo. 
 
Write to 
 
 W. O. REDDING 
 
 Montrose, Colo., 
 
 for prices and general 
 information pertaining 
 to the lands in Mont- 
 rose County, Colora- 
 do, and the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley under 
 the Gunnison Tunnel 
 project. 
 
 Descriptive Pamphlets 
 Furnished. 
 
 Immigration rates ob- 
 tained. Fourteen years a resident of this val- 
 ley and actively engaged in the REAL ES- 
 TATE business during that time. 
 
 References: 
 
 The First National Bank, Montrose. 
 
 The Montrose National Bank, Montrose. 
 
 The Equitable Security Company, New York City. 
 
 The Farm Investment Company, Greeley, Colo. 
 
 All Letters Answered by Return Mail. 
 
^%^/%^/%^/%^/%^/%^/f 
 
 LOWEST RATES 
 
 I AND — 
 
 I SUPERIOR SERVICE 
 
 d From All Points East to Colorado 
 
 I FOR HOMESEEKERS 
 
 t VIA 
 
 All Trains Equipped v/ith 
 Electric Lights and Fans 
 
 H. B. KOOSER, J. H. GINET, Jr. 
 
 G. W. F. & P. Agt. Denver, Colo. T. P. A. 
 
 ^/^^/%^/%^^%/^,^^/%^^%/\/^^ 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 00170551138 #